Drawing an Iranian Islamic Model of Iranian Science and Technology System Based on Upstream Documentation with SODA Methodology

The present era has witnessed an emergence of knowledge-based economies, where economic development is completely tied to growth in science and technology. Thus, addressing the strategies that govern and direct the national science and technology systems is becoming ever more vital and necessary. In Iran, science and technology system has been envisioned in four national documents, “general science and technology policies issued by the Supreme Leader”, “national document for strategic development in science and technology”, “national science and technology system in the sixth development plan”, and “national science and technology system in Iran’s comprehensive scientific map”, which sometimes provide incoherent visions. In this study, the method of Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA) was employed to integrate these documents and devise a group of strategies based on their mutual concepts. Advantages of SODA over traditional methods include its ability to solve abnormal and unstructured problems, provide results based on experts’ opinions thus ensuring less resistance against implementation, operating based on graph theory indices, and providing strategy chains and directions instead of isolated suggestions. The findings of this study showed that the policy of “educational equity” is the most important and critical strategy for Iran’s science and technology system. Comparison with the existing literature showed that the results of this study not only provide the general advantages of SODA methodology but are also broader and more efficient and comprehensive than their existing counterparts.