Barriers to the Commercialization of Civilian Space Technology in Iran

Iran has a long-standing and increasingly comprehensive space program. Given the current technological and political developments worldwide, a logical next step is to start commercializing some of the country's space activities. After first reviewing the literature on the commercialization of technology, this article describes Iran's space program and the various organizations involved in it, before presenting research based on interviews with 15 experts in the field of space commercialization. The results suggest that there are eight areas that Iran should concentrate on but that there are also currently several barriers to commercialization of the country's space industry. A conclusion provides recommendations for facilitating commercialization in the future. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.