According to Sedaye Sama News Agency, Ali Montazeri, President of the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), announced in an interview with Tasnim News Agency’s social affairs correspondent that the National Primate Center is being established. He said the center will operate as an international scientific and research hub under the direct supervision of ACECR and will be managed by the Royan Institute.

Referring to the need for establishing the facility, he added that the center is being created pursuant to a single-article resolution adopted in line with the implementation of Iran’s Comprehensive Scientific Map. Its main fields of activity will include primate studies, brain research, neuro-inspired artificial intelligence, controlled prostheses and robots, the development of innovative tools for treating neurological diseases, and other related needs.

The ACECR president stated that the facility is a research center intended to function as an international hub, meaning that the conditions and infrastructure required for researchers and scientists from other countries to work there will be provided.

Montazeri described the project as a comprehensive, multidisciplinary complex and said all necessary research facilities have been included in the campus, including highly advanced laboratories, a specialized library and accommodation for researchers.

Regarding the project’s latest progress, he said:

“Fortunately, 95 percent of the center’s construction and implementation work has been completed, and only a few minor sections remain. God willing, we hope the center will officially begin operations during the current year.”

Responding to a question about the opening process, the ACECR president said that the exceptional wartime conditions in the region had unfortunately caused delays in the planning. Otherwise, the center would already have been inaugurated. He expressed hope that it would definitely open this year.

He added that the center’s scientific design and organization are intended to change the prevailing paradigm of dependence on foreign laboratories. Instead of Iranian researchers having to leave the country to conduct scientific projects, the center will create conditions that encourage international researchers to travel to Iran for scientific and research activities.

Montazeri emphasized that all laboratory equipment and devices required for the center have already been procured. Although ACECR made the initial investment, he said the project is a national initiative financed through the national budget. It will operate under the official title National Primate Laboratory, abbreviated as PRIMA.

Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran and Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, issued the single-article resolution on the Establishment of the National Primate Laboratory—PRIMA for implementation on the third day of the Iranian month of Mordad. The resolution had previously been approved at the 921st session of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.

Under the resolution, the national laboratory will be established under the supervision of the Royan Institute as a scientific and research center affiliated with ACECR.

The text of the resolution is as follows:

Single-Article Resolution on the Establishment of the National Primate Laboratory—PRIMA

The single-article resolution on the Establishment of the National Primate Laboratory—PRIMA, approved at the 921st session of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution on September 30, 2025, based on the resolutions adopted at the 550th and 584th sessions of the council’s subsidiary body and following ACECR’s proposal dated June 16, 2024, is hereby communicated for implementation as follows:

Single Article

Pursuant to National Action 14 under Major Strategy 7 of the Comprehensive Scientific Map of Iran, which calls for the “establishment and development of national laboratories and specialized service centers in priority fields”; National Actions 4, 9, 10 and 11 of the National Document on Stem Cell Science and Technology; and National Actions 3 and 5 of the Strategic Document on Cognitive Science and Technology—and considering the necessity of responding to some of society’s most fundamental, current and basic needs, as well as the rapid and significant international advances in brain research, neuro-inspired artificial intelligence, controlled prostheses and robots, the development of innovative tools for treating neurological diseases, and other current and multidisciplinary needs—the National Primate Laboratory, hereinafter abbreviated as PRIMA, shall be established under the supervision of the Royan Institute as a scientific and research center affiliated with ACECR.

Note 1

The statute of the National Primate Laboratory shall be approved and issued by the Board of Trustees of ACECR.

Note 2

For the purpose of strategic management and supervision over the proper implementation of the assigned missions, a Steering Council for the National Primate Laboratory shall be formed.

The council shall include representatives from the relevant institutions, including the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology; the Ministry of Health and Medical Education; the Vice Presidency for Science, Technology and the Knowledge-Based Economy; the Academy of Sciences; the Academy of Medical Sciences; and the relevant ACECR officials.

Its members shall be appointed by the President of ACECR and approved by the Board of Trustees of ACECR.

Source: Tasnim