'Vietnam is in the group with the fastest improvement in the GII Index'

According to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2026 report of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Vietnam ranks 43rd out of 139 countries and economies. From 2016 to now, Vietnam's ranking has increased 16 places.

During the report announcement in Geneva on September 29, WIPO Director General Darren Tang said that Vietnam, along with China, India, Türkiye, the Philippines, Morocco and Indonesia, is in the group of "fastest-advancing" economies since 2013.

The report also pointed out that China ranked 10th as the highest-ranking middle-income economy, while India, Vietnam, Türkiye, Philippines, Morocco and Indonesia "advanced the most in the middle-income group".

"Among the 21 economies with outstanding innovation results relative to their level of development, India and Vietnam have led this group for 16 consecutive years," the report noted.

According to WIPO analyst Roger Zamora, innovation results are not always associated with high income levels. This is clearly shown in India and Vietnam, "the two countries whose innovation results have exceeded expectations for the longest period of time".

WIPO economic expert Lorena Rivera Leon said that the factor that helps Vietnam achieve this result is that the manufacturing industry has a high level of integration into the global value chain. "Vietnam has a very strong manufacturing industry," she said.

In fact, GII results clearly reflect the role of the manufacturing and high-tech sectors. This year, Vietnam's export of high technology and innovative products continues to rank first in the world. The proportion of high-tech imports ranks third, the number of mobile application downloads developed by Vietnam ranks fifth, while the labor productivity growth rate ranks sixth.

From a governance and management perspective, Ms. Shengyu Qin, senior advisor to WIPO, acknowledged that "Vietnam has established national GII Working Groups over the past many years".

According to Minister of Science and Technology Vu Hai Quan, the innovation ranking is associated with a change in Vietnam's approach. Science, technology and innovation are now "placed at the center", playing a key role in the socio-economic development model.

From that approach, Resolution 57 of the Politburo provides directions, tasks and solutions to link science, technology and innovation with economic development. Vietnam has built and perfected the legal corridor and institutions, creating a foundation for science, technology and innovation to truly be the main driving force for socio-economic development.

Another change is the way resources are allocated and used. Vietnam prioritizes budgets for science, technology and innovation, especially research and development, encouraging businesses to increase investment in this field, attracting new high-tech and strategic technology projects.

Management moves from "input-heavy" to "output-heavy". Vietnam also "goes now, goes fast" on core and long-term issues such as strategic technology, high technology and fields with the potential to create a great impact on the country's development.

The Minister said that the two-level increase in the "innovation output" group shows that changes in institutions, resources and management methods have initially transformed into results.

In the coming period, Vietnam aims to be in the top 40 GII by 2030 and top 30 in 2045. According to Minister Vu Hai Quan, to achieve this goal, Vietnam needs to continue to improve institutions, increase investment in research and development and attract foreign corporations to build R&D centers, expand investment in high technology and strategic technology.

The quality of human resources, research capacity and institute-school-business cooperation relationships also need to improve. Another measure is to attract investment capital for creative startups, especially for technology-based startups; Form innovation clusters, support businesses to receive and master technology.

This year's GII ranks innovation capacity, points out the strengths and weaknesses of each economy, and introduces the world's top 100 innovation clusters. This is a reputable tool, evaluated through 79 component indexes, reflecting each country's innovation capacity and level of socio-economic development based on science and technology, while also helping to point out strengths and limitations in the development process.

Since 2017, Vietnam has used GII as a management tool, assigning each ministry and sector to be in charge of specific indicators. This approach creates an interdisciplinary coordination model that many countries are interested in. According to WIPO's 2025-2026 survey results, there are 93 member countries using GII results in building science, technology and innovation strategies and policies.

Trong Dat