Artificial Intelligence firms in Iran: a qualitative study of their Business Impediments and problems

Document Type : Original research

Authors

1 member of the science and technology studies department- Institute for Cultcher, Social and Civilization Studies- Tehran- Iran

2 Department of Management and Accounting, Faculty of Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant professor, Innovation Policy and foresight, Technology Studies Institute, Tehran. Iran.

Abstract

AI is now one of the science and technology policy priorities. Iran’s national document on AI reflects the importance of this technology at the national level. One of the main pillars of AI development, which is also emphasized in the national document, is the development of AI enterprises. Comprehension of the problems that these enterprises face is the first step in formulating policies to develop them. This study is conducted to comprehend the problems that AI enterprises in Iran face. The methodology of this research is based on an interpretive approach. 28 semi-structured interviews with AI enterprise managers were conducted to collect data. Also, documents and reports from 135 AI enterprises were analyzed. The thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that AI enterprise development is under the influence of seven overarching themes. These themes are the management capability of the enterprise, institutional environment, human resources, political economy, funding, exporting, and assessment. The conclusions show that the problems of political economy, management capability of the enterprise, exporting, and assessment are not addressed in the literature. Political economy indicates that the low price of energy and human capital in the country is one of the main reasons for resistance to using AI to maximize productivity. Enabling the managers of these enterprises has also been neglected by public policy makers and managers of these enterprises are poorly qualified for handling their businesses. Domestic enterprises, don’t have any competitive advantage in exporting their products. Their global competitors are big corporations that offer a variety of products at competitive prices. There isn’t any standard mechanism for assessing the quality of AI products and assessment usually is conducted by the buyer. But, since the markets of AI products are not big, this problem isn’t a serious impediment yet.

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Main Subjects

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History

  • Receive Date: 07 December 2024
  • Revise Date: 28 December 2024
  • Accept Date: 21 January 2025

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