Prime Minister: Science and technology tasks must answer 4 questions
At a meeting on science and technology development, innovation and digital transformation on the afternoon of September 28, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung said the effectiveness of these fields must be measured by labor productivity, digital technology revenue, added value and contribution to growth of each locality and the whole country. After the meeting, each ministry, sector and locality must determine the products that need to be created and the deadline for completion.
The requirement is set when GDP in the first half of the year increased by 8.18%, while the whole year target is 10% or more. According to the Prime Minister, the second half of the year must increase by about 11.9% to reach the target. Investment, consumption and exports remain important, but growth based on capital and low-cost labor cannot sustain double-digit levels for many years. To go a long way, Vietnam must increase productivity with science and technology, innovation and digital transformation.
The Head of the Government commented that digital infrastructure, data and online public services have made progress, while product creation, revenue and contribution to growth are still slow. The biggest bottleneck lies in the implementation capacity and responsibility of each agency, especially the leader. Where the leader directly directs specific products; where forms of transformation are limited.
In order for research to meet actual needs, the Prime Minister requires businesses to participate from the stage of problem formulation to market development, and research institutes and universities according to orders. Localities choose products based on their strengths. Public procurement and public investment are identified as the first market for technology products.
Currently, some local science and technology tasks do not originate from business needs, and it is unclear where the products produced will be applied. Commercializing research results is also difficult. The Prime Minister assigned the ministries of Industry and Trade, Science and Technology, and Finance to develop a pilot plan to create the first order for strategic technology products and submit it to competent authorities in the second quarter of 2027.
Among the 14 approved strategic technology tasks, ministries must soon choose an implementation unit; 8 tasks that have passed appraisal need to be approved before October 15. Government leaders require each task to create value and contribute substantially to growth, with progress reported monthly. The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance will clarify how to evaluate the effectiveness of technology research, application and commercialization in December.
With the digital transformation of public services, the Prime Minister pointed out the situation where people still have to submit paper documents even though the information is already in the database. The Ministry of Public Security is assigned to complete the integration of 82 essential administrative procedures before October 31. The Ministry of Education and Training must synchronize transcripts, diplomas, and certificates to VNeID, clean and attach identification numbers to 12 million diploma and certificate data within the same time limit.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment accelerates the synchronization of land use rights certificates for integration on VNeID. The Ministry of Science and Technology will deploy free digital signatures on this application before October 15. These jobs must also be evaluated by the results of people using them, instead of stopping at the completion of the system.
Vu Tuan