Pathology of Higher Education Spatial Planning in Iran; the First Step of Regional Governance

A knowledge-based economy is an economy based on the production, distribution, and application of knowledge, and Knowledge-based investment is of its key importance. Achieving knowledge-based economics requires investing in human resources and formulating research and innovation-focused policies that can ultimately achieve macroeconomic and social goals in the regions through entrepreneurship and the creation of small, medium, and large-scale industries. Considering the importance of a knowledge-based economy, the current paper assesses and ranks the different provinces of Iran through a combined AHP-TOPSIS based approach. The result shows that Tehran, Semnan, Kerman, and Isfahan provinces are ranked first to fourth in terms of the knowledge-based economy while Lorestan, West Azerbaijan, and Kordestan provinces performed miserably low. Considering the importance of knowledge-based companies, applied research, inventions, and specialized human resources, especially in postgraduate studies in the development of the knowledge-based economy in the provinces, policymakers should plan for Executive agencies of the country's higher education preparation document should pay close attention to promoting these indicators in less developed provinces.