The Minister of Public Security has advised the younger generation that no one but themselves should take responsibility for protecting their personal data. He urged youth to educate, promote, and advocate for personal data security.

On March 24, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, along with leaders from several ministries and departments, held a dialogue with young representatives nationwide.

The dialogue focused on the theme "Vietnamese youth pioneering the development of science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation."

During the dialogue, young representatives working at state agencies and private organizations raised questions and made recommendations, seeking guidance and insights.

The discussion revolved around promoting science and technology (S&T), innovation, and national digital transformation within the framework of Resolution 57 of the Politburo.

Solutions to increase the number of innovative enterprises and boost fundamental sciences

Responding to a question about doubling the number of innovative start-up enterprises compared to 2020, as outlined in the Science, Technology, and Innovation Development Strategy, Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Quoc Phuong provided information on the 2024 innovation index.

Specifically, in the innovation and S&T map of 2024, Vietnam improved by two ranks compared to 2023, moving up to 44th place.

Among countries with similar development levels and low-middle income, Vietnam ranked second after India. In the ASEAN region, Vietnam held the fourth position after Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

These figures demonstrate the foundation, opportunities, and conditions for Vietnam to rapidly increase the number of innovative enterprises, especially those led by young people.

Deputy Minister Phuong proposed several solutions to boost the numbers, including:

Improving institutions.

Enhancing IT, S&T, and digital transformation infrastructure.

Developing human resources.

Encouraging innovation in the business sector.

Creating an enabling environment for growth.

Additionally, he emphasized the importance of policies that support start-ups by prioritizing their products and making commercialization as accessible as possible.

Encouraging youth to pursue fundamental sciences

Responding to a question about encouraging young people to study fundamental sciences - an important field for S&T development, innovation, and digital transformation - Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son emphasized the necessity of significantly increasing the number of young people pursuing these fields.

He shared some statistics: In 2024, the number of postgraduate STEM students (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) grew by 34% at the master's level and 33% at the doctoral level. More than 600 doctoral candidates are preparing their dissertations. In the education sector, 350 doctoral candidates are studying STEM-related fields.

Minister Son highlighted that these numbers reflect strong and promising human resource development in the STEM fields.

He added that the government has tasked the education sector with preparing a high-quality workforce development plan for advanced technology fields.

This plan includes policies to motivate and encourage young people to pursue education through scholarships and other incentives, as well as attracting foreign experts to work in Vietnam.

Digital transformation must start with youth

Answering a question about transferring political system operations to a digital environment with interconnectivity, synchronization, and security, General Luong Tam Quang, Minister of Public Security, noted that the ministry has been assigned to implement Project 06.

The project aims that by 2025, over 60% of young people will access digital competency enhancement activities, 50% will use online public services, and 70% will adopt electronic payment methods.

"We address this challenge to the youth because they are well-trained. Therefore, every agency and local authority must promptly amend procedures to allow the use of all types of integrated electronic documents with legal value equivalent to physical documents, as specified in the Electronic Transactions Law," General Quang stressed.

He added that ministries and agencies must promote digital transformation in internal operations, develop online conferencing systems, and implement information management and administrative systems. "Youth must take the lead in this," he urged.

The Ministry of Public Security also tasked relevant units with integrating essential information into the VNeID application to facilitate various activities and daily transactions. Digital transformation requires comprehensive, accurate, and high-quality data, which must be interconnected between agencies and ministries before achieving national digital transformation.

General Quang also emphasized the importance of ensuring security and safety in all digital activities. "Ensuring security is an individual responsibility. Each person, especially young people, must actively guide, promote, and advocate to protect their personal data," he stressed.

Three strategic breakthroughs to develop science and technology

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that to develop stronger and more dynamic enterprises, it is essential to build an ecosystem conducive to growth, including three strategic breakthroughs:

Streamlined institutions: Simplifying administrative procedures, reducing intermediary processes, and decentralizing power to make business registration easier and less costly.

Strategic infrastructure development: Creating new development spaces and added value for land, including industrial zones, urban areas, services, and tourism - especially digital, S&T, and energy infrastructure - to reduce input costs and boost competitiveness.

High-quality human resource training: Improving labor productivity and adapting to emerging sectors like digital economy, green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, and knowledge economy.

The Prime Minister emphasized that prioritizing talented students and researchers requires incentives such as scholarships and recognition. He reiterated the importance of schools as foundational institutions, teachers as motivators, and students as the core of educational development.

Nguyen Thao