Explaining the Structural-Functional Interactions of the UAV's Technological Innovation System in Iran

UAV technology development is an important part of Iran's defense development strategy. The purpose of this article is to understand the state of the Iranian UAV's technological innovation system in the current situation. The research questions are: What is the structural configuration of the UAVTIS in Iran? What are the performances of the functions? And what are the interactions between them?
Theoretical idea of this research is the technological innovation system. Information retrieval, related company databases, deep interviews with experts and questionnaires. The most important findings of the research are that "market formation function" is the strongest function of the UAVTIS. On the contrary, "knowledge dissemination function" is the weakest function and the most important failure factor of this system. The failure of these two functions is the result of two structural problems: first, the failure of a strong network of defense innovation systems that, due to security considerations, maintains the intensity of inter-sector interactions very high, which itself impedes the knowledge diffusion to the non-defense sector. Second, the failure of the weak network in the entire innovation system in Iran