IRNA - The 35th World Conference on Science and Technology Parks, began in Isfahan's Science and Research Town (ISTT) on Monday with senior Iranian and foreign science officials and representatives attending the event.

Iran's Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mansour Gholami and the country's Vice President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari as well Josep Miquel Piqu� Secretary General of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) were among those partaking in the conference in the central Iranian city.

Other officials attending the event were Afghanistan's minister of higher education as well as ambassadors from more than 30 countries and experts in Science and Technology Parks from 50 nations.

In the conference, titled 'Towards sustainable cities and communities: fostering innovation ecosystems', out of 158 papers submitted from 30 countries, 53 articles will be chosen and 27 articles will be presented.

The four-day conference aims at paving the way for exchanging views among Science and Technology Parks around the world and also to hold bilateral talks between the managers of domestic and foreign science parks in cooperation with Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

At the previous Conference on Science and Technology Parks which was held two years ago in Moscow, Isfahan was chosen as this year's host due to its history and significant activities of its Science and Research Town.

France's Nantes will host the 2019 event, and the Science and Technology Parks in Slovenia, Mexico and Spain will be the candidates to host the 37th conference in 2020.

IASP General Assembly meeting in Isfahan will take a vote on which candidate to host the next event.