Strategies for the development of life sciences and technologies in Iran

The field of life sciences is one of the most important fields related to issues and issues affecting life, including pharmacy, therapeutic, and related technologies with direct and indirect effects on human health due to their nature. The increasing complexity of communication between sciences affecting human health in Iran. Significant scientific advances in recent years, international developments, special social conditions in Iran, and the efforts of different countries in this field, make life sciences in Iran even more important key. Also, the need for this research is clear due to the need to provide effective strategies for the development of this field in Iran. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to identify strategies for the development of life sciences and technologies in Iran. The main question of this research is focused on identifying the position of Iran in the field of life sciences, analyzing the situation in the country, and determining effective strategies to improve the current situation in the country.

This research is categorized in terms of interpretive paradigm, type of applied goal, descriptive research method, combined or quantitative-qualitative approach, library, and field information collection. Policy-making and the presentation of strategic plans for the field of life sciences require an understanding of the current state of the country and its future needs. Therefore, in the first part of this study, the position of life sciences in Iran, the target population, and the factors affecting these sciences are determined based on field studies and the results of designed questionnaires. Then, by examining the strengths and weaknesses along with the threats and opportunities in the SWOT analysis, appropriate strategies are presented. In the following, the responsible institutions were determined and their roles for the implementation of these strategies were determined based on the principles of institutional mapping. It is also used to determine the priority of each strategy according to the experts' knowledge and the analytic network process (ANP).

In the first stage of this study, the factors affecting the development of life sciences and technologies in Iran were examined by the target community, which included some experts and active researchers in this field. For this purpose, studies were conducted and questions were designed based on the SERVQUAL model. The focus of the main questions was determined based on the relevant specialties and current knowledge due to the statistical sample with different disciplines and specialties. After designing the main questions in the questionnaires, their validity was assessed with the content validity ratio index and their reliability was assessed by Cronbach's alpha method. After ensuring the validity and reliability of the questionnaires, they were analyzed based on the SWOT method. According to this analysis, the most important strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are coordination of the country's scientific services and products with international needs; becoming this field as a bridge to leave the country due to the knowledge frontier; Iran's richness in raw materials, organic and plant structures; focus on producing articles without considering their application, respectively. Other identified items were ranked according to their frequency and importance. Then, by dividing the strengths and weaknesses related to Iran in the field of life sciences and confronting them with identified opportunities and threats, solutions were extracted. These solutions are designed based on different aspects including managerial, political, technical, infrastructural, social, and communication perspectives. Also, the institutions related to the field of life sciences were identified and the proposed solutions were assigned to them using institutional maps according to the results obtained from the completed questionnaires. Based on the results of the questionnaires, the weight and importance of each solution were determined and their priority was determined based on the analytic network process (ANP).

According to the results of this study, the most effective strategy to increase the relationship between science and industry is to hold international conferences and scientific meetings in the field of life sciences and the convergence of related sciences in this field to monitor developments in different countries. This strategy can attract domestic and foreign investment and flourish many research projects. The next strategy is to determine the regulating laws of capital between different fields of life sciences and technologies in Iran according to national and international needs and trends, which will lead to the balanced development of the country in this field. Also, the development of centers for organizing materials and logistics related to the field of life sciences in Iran is the next effective strategy that can stabilize the research processes of many companies active in this field. On the other hand, investment policies in the country should be organized in accordance with the needs of the country so that in addition to the country's self-sufficiency in this area, foreign markets should be targeted. The results of this research should be reviewed regularly to identify the most appropriate strategies in any situation and time because the dynamics of current scientific developments is one of the limitations of the present study.