Every week we’ll be bringing you the highlights of Iran’s tech scene in the past week. This week, we covered the latest report on the digital gaming scene in Iran, the INOTEX 2018 exhibition planned to be held this weekend, and the Pars-1 satellite ready for launch.

28 Million Gamers in Iran

According to DIREC’s latest report, there are 28 million gamers in Iran, of which 47% of them are a daily gamer. While the majority of this number is for mobile gamers, 25% of these people also play computer games and 18% play console games. 24 out of 100 gamers in Iran are women and the average gamer’s age in the country is 19 years old. 

The time spent for digital gaming for Iranians is 31 minutes per capita/day and the average Iranian gamer spends 90 minutes for gaming per day. According to this research firm, last year $102 million was spent by Iranians on buying PS4 consoles, and the total digital game industry in the country is estimated to be nearly $219 million (according to the official exchange rate of the US dollar in Iran).

Stay tuned for TechRasa’s in-depth look at this report. 

Related: Infographic: 42 Million Gamers in Iran by the Year 2022

INOTEX 2018 Exhibition to Be Held from July 5th to 7th

If you happen to be in Tehran this weekend, don’t miss your chance to attend the INOTEX 2018 exhibition in Tehran. This innovation and technology exhibition is being held for the 7th year, which is organized by Pardis Technology Park with the support of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology. 

According to the organizers of INOTEX, during the past 6 exhibitions, over 750 tech companies from 25 countries have been involved with this event and over 130 contracts and Memorandum of Cooperations have been signed.  

While this year’s exhibition mainly focuses on the smart city innovations, around 400 players in different fields of innovation and technology are expected to attend and showcase their activities to over 8 thousand visitors. 

On the last day of the exhibition, a number of talks and panels with Iran’s startup ecosystem players will be held. TechRasa’s team will also take the stage on this day to present its latest reports on the state of digital advertising, developments of mobile and internet infrastructure and the history of messaging apps in Iran and its opportunities. 

Pars-1 Satellite Ready for Launch in the Upcoming Year

According to Dr. Hassan Haddadpour, the former chairman of Iran’s Space Research Institute, “Nahid-1” satellite’s design and developments have been done and it’s ready to be launched and “Nahid-2” could also be ready in the upcoming Persian year. 

“Pars-1”, a Remote-Sensing Satellite which is being developed by this institute, is also ready to be launched into space. 

In other news, last week, the Director of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA), Morteza Barari, announced that at ISA, a proper program has been developed for the withdrawal of the state administration, and the private sector is expected to get more involved with the country’s space program. Read more from this link.