Vietnam cannot preserve dragging its toes on growing strategic applied sciences; it is time for more durable, sooner, and extra hard-hitting strikes, Party General Secretary To Lam advised a gathering of the Central Steering Committee for Science and Technology Development, Innovation and Digital Transformation in Hanoi on March 18.
Following the Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW, the Politburo issued an inventory of 11 teams of strategic applied sciences and 35 teams of strategic tech merchandise below a choice issued on June 12, 2025, whereas choosing six precedence strategic expertise merchandise for fast rollout with detailed roadmaps. However, the progress stays uneven. To date, not one of the designated precedence merchandise has superior to a stage the place it generates substantial, measurable financial contributions.
General Secretary Lam confused that strategic applied sciences should immediately serve the targets of elevating productiveness and financial competitiveness, forming new industries, and securing technological autonomy in key sectors. Picking the suitable ones, he mentioned, boils down to a few basic elements: actual improvement and competitiveness wants, potential of home industries, and the power to construct worth chains and markets.
On nailing down the strategic tech checklist, he wished it to separate into two teams: confirmed applied sciences in established markets the place the payoff is huge, quick, and direct; and applied sciences that create new progress drivers, foundational tech for the long run, and applied sciences for self-reliance in nationwide defence-security.
Businesses, particularly personal gamers, must be the beating coronary heart of the entire tech ecosystem. Policies need to supercharge them to pour cash into R&D and innovation, whereas the State sticks to high-level steerage, constructing a pleasant regulatory playground, bankrolling key research, and serving to flip lab breakthroughs into market winners.
Resources should zero in on only a handful of really important areas, going all-in with depth, energy, good techniques, effectivity, and unbreakable follow-through until the job’s finished, he mentioned.
For each strategic tech and product, there have to be a transparent task of the lead ministry or company, coordinating our bodies, and sources. Heads of lead companies should personally direct the work and bear full duty earlier than the Party and State for outcomes inside their domains.
At the central degree, a strong, authoritative inter-agency coordination physique is required to clear main bottlenecks. Mechanisms should guarantee easy and seamless cooperation, avoiding a scenario through which every physique acts otherwise, shifts duty, or waits for others to maneuver first.
In his view, coaching and attracting expertise should keep a ahead lead. It can also be essential to empower the broader innovation ecosystem, together with start-ups, sci-tech enterprises, and spin-off firms originating from analysis institutes and universities, whereas constructing innovation hub which can be sturdy, open and versatile sufficient to attach research with the market.
Among urgent subsequent steps, the chief known as for a assessment and refinement of the checklist of strategic tech and merchandise towards higher focus on what really issues for the nation’s short- and long-term future. He additionally pushed for a unified path and coordination mechanism on the Government degree to launch strategic tech schemes; an inter-agency process pressure for coordination, with month-to-month progress studies straight to the Steering Committee and its head; and the fast-track rollout of clear requirements for strategic tech, core tech, and precedence merchandise.
He additionally ordered overhaul of funding and finance guidelines for these efforts, particularly particular output-tied mechanisms that enable managed risk-taking, tax breaks, low cost credit score, public-private funding fashions, and state finances mechanisms for focused procurement.
The Party chief additionally demanded coaching pipelines geared towards strategic tech wants, with precedence given to engineers, grasp’s and doctoral graduates, elite specialists and powerful analysis groups, whereas forging tight hyperlinks amongst colleges, firms, analysis institutes and main initiatives. At the identical time, urgent efforts are wanted to clear bottlenecks dealing with ministries, companies, companies, analysis institutes and universities./. VNA