For the primary time, these three pillars are overseen in a single decision, underneath the administration of 1 ministry. Few international locations recognise the significance of those three pillars and merge them into one administration, however Vietnam is among the many pioneers on this strategy.
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| Hoang Minh, deputy Minister of Science and Technology |
For Vietnam, these pillars are a compulsory alternative and a possibility for Vietnam to turn out to be highly effective within the new period.
Science and know-how is the inspiration for creating new information and instruments. Innovation is the driving drive, reworking them into concepts and options to resolve socioeconomic issues. And digital transformation creates an surroundings to understand revolutionary options into new merchandise, providers, processes, and enterprise fashions, popularising them to create actual worth.
Vietnam has made exceptional achievements in sci-tech. Fields resembling biotechnology, new supplies, and renewable vitality have made progress, for instance in producing vaccines, agricultural manufacturing, renewable vitality, the inexperienced economic system, and extra.
However, there may be nonetheless a niche: spending on analysis and development (R&D) is just about 0.5 per cent of GDP, decrease than the world common of two.4 per cent. The goal is that by 2030, R&D spending will attain 2 per cent of GDP, with society contributing over 60 per cent of complete spending on science and know-how.
To increase this pillar, it’s essential to give attention to the next options: perfecting establishments, encouraging non-public funding in R&D; creating personnel, with the objective of reaching 12 researchers per 10,000 folks by 2030; investing in upgrading science and know-how infrastructure, modernising labs, and bringing primary analysis to universities; having a tax low cost coverage for sci-tech development bills of enterprises; and specializing in strategic tech that creates high-quality development, excessive added worth, and a basis for different industries.
This pillar not solely contributes to growing labour productiveness but in addition promotes sustainability, resembling making use of inexperienced tech to cut back carbon emissions, in the direction of the objective of carbon neutrality by 2050. In the subsequent decade, science and know-how would be the key for Vietnam to realize double-digit GDP development.
The second pillar is innovation, which is the driving drive to show concepts into financial worth. It will assist Vietnam overcome the middle-income entice by boosting the nationwide innovation system and inventive startup ecosystem.
It will even contribute to enhancing competitiveness, serving to Vietnam rank on this planet’s prime 30 within the innovation index by 2045, and encourage sustainable development via inexperienced financial and round financial fashions.
The present state of affairs exhibits that Vietnam has a vibrant startup ecosystem, with greater than 3,000 startups by 2024, and enterprise capital funding reaching $1 billion. Successful examples embrace VinFast electrical automobiles or FPT with AI software program. However, the variety of patents continues to be low, and the commercialisation fee is just 5-7 per cent. The goal is to extend patent purposes by 16-18 per cent a yr, and industrial exploitation to achieve 8-10 per cent.
Main options embrace constructing a nationwide innovation system and nationwide startup ecosystem, connecting universities, analysis institutes, and companies; strengthening middleman organisations resembling innovation help centres; offering monetary help via enterprise capital funds; and creating high-tech parks in Hanoi, Danang, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, and elsewhere to entice international funding.
The third is digital transformation, which wants new establishments. Many new features of the digital surroundings can problem and destroy outdated fashions (for instance, e-banking challenges conventional banking). Therefore, it’s extra of an institutional subject than a technological subject.
Vietnam ranks 52nd out of 193 international locations within the E-Government Index in 2024, with 80 per cent of public providers on-line at degree 4, whereas the digital economic system reached 16 per cent of GDP in 2024. However, challenges embrace digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, and abilities. The nation targets a digital economic system of 30 per cent of GDP in 2030, nationwide 5G protection, and 80 per cent cashless transactions.
Digital transformation will probably be a driving drive for speedy development, serving to GDP improve by 1.5-2 per cent per yr by optimising administration, governance and manufacturing processes.
Solutions embrace constructing trendy infrastructure, together with a nationwide knowledge centre, universalising related abilities, making certain cybersecurity, deploying sensible cities in main cities, and attracting the world’s main tech firms.
Over the previous 35 years, greater than 30 international locations have gone from center revenue to excessive revenue. But solely 10-12 are thought-about developed, resembling South Korea, Israel, Czechia, and Poland. These are international locations which have achieved excessive revenue via sci-tech, innovation, digital transformation, excessive degree of industrialisation, excessive labour productiveness, secure establishments, trendy infrastructure, and developed schooling and healthcare methods.
Vietnam goals for each targets: to be excessive revenue and developed. To obtain this, the contribution to GDP development of the three pillars have to be over 50 per cent.