The Vice Chair of the National Committee on Digital Transformation and Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung talked to VietNamNet about core perspectives, unique approaches, and revolutionary and groundbreaking solutions introduced in the Politburo’s Resolution 57.

Resolution 57 clearly points out that it is necessary to make investment in important and priority fields. What are the key and priority fields that need special attention in the time to come?

Resolution 57 says the "bottleneck of bottlenecks" is the institutional framework. Therefore, the first and most urgent task is institutional reform. We need to legitimize and institutionalize new things so that those who innovate can do so safely, without risks. This task needs to be completed fundamentally within 2025.

Regarding the institutional framework, we put forth the view that institutional regime should be considered a competitive advantage. Nowadays, there many things that new technologies can do, but many countries are prohibiting them, so businesses have nowhere to do the things, even though they are ready. 

By allowing experiments in Vietnam, the entire global tech community and the world's resources will flow to Vietnam. They will innovate and develop in our country, contributing to Vietnam's development, and from here going global. With this approach, Vietnam could become a global hub of new technology.

Second, we need to focus on developing infrastructure for science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation (ST, Innovation, and DT), provided that infrastructure must be at a faster pace, double the rate of economic development, leading to the formation of large corporations with strong capabilities to lead in infrastructure development, thereby creating the power to go global.

In the past, we talked about transportation and power infrastructure, but now, in Resolution 57, the strategic infrastructure includes digital, ST, and innovation infrastructure. Now, after 20-30 years of being nurtured by the country, large corporations need to embrace national missions, be responsible for the country, and play a leading role in the development of the country’s strategic infrastructure.

The third thing that needs special attention is human resources development. This topic has been discussed many times, but this time, Resolution 57 emphasizes talents. The competition now is in attracting and retaining talents, not just workforce in general. Talent is crucial for an organization or a country to develop, especially when we opt for rapid and sustainable development based on science, technology, and innovation.

Vietnamese people are intelligent, quick to adapt to changes, and capable of customizing products to individual needs. Many overseas Vietnamese have made significant achievements in technology. Now is the time for them to return to Vietnam or connect with Vietnam to build Vietnamese tech enterprises.

In principle, talent is global; therefore, Vietnam needs to create most favorable conditions for global talents to converge here. We should experiment with new technologies, new business models, with the ‘sandbox approach’, accepting risk.

For unknowns that we don't yet know how to manage, we should try them within a limited space and timeframe. "Technology special zones" and "innovation special zones" will be the places where advanced mechanisms for technology enterprises are applied on a trial basis. For talents, their primary need is to innovate and face challenges, and the greater the challenge, the more it attracts them.

Resolution 57 also emphasizes that data, a new resource produced by humans during the development process, are a new kind of production material, a new resource. We need to focus on creating a market and building an institutional regime to manage and share the value generated by this new type of resource.

Researching and developing strategic technologies is also one of the five core areas. With Resolution 57, for the first time, strategic technology is considered one of important forces. If we want to develop rapidly and sustainably, and to take the country to new heights, we must master instruments and technologies, especially strategic technologies.

Vietnamese tech companies, especially large ones, must take on the mission of Vietnam, mastering strategic technologies to control the nation's digital transformation process.

Technology can effectively solve Vietnam’s problems. Vietnam, with its own problems, is the market for Vietnamese technology enterprises to be born and develop. Vietnam is also the cradle for technology enterprises to go global and solve global problems.

to be continued...

Van Anh