Work is underway to build criteria to set the standard for Vietnamese firms' creativity and innovation capacity, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Speaking at an event to publicise the report in Ha Noi on Sunday, government officials and business experts said there was a need to build customised criteria for Vietnamese firms as many of them were not mature enough to be measured using existing international standards.

Director of the Vietnam National Innovation Center Vu Quoc Huy said the standards had been built based on successful international practices, which would serve as a tool for policymakers to create an ecosystem that promotes and nurtures Vietnamese firms' creative and innovative spirit to improve productivity and quality of goods and services.

In addition, the criteria will help policymakers understand firms' level of creativity and innovation, which will help the government in allocating resources to support them more efficiently.

The ministry has released a five-part report on the current level of creativity and innovation among Vietnamese firms, as well as recommendations to address a number of shortcomings and limitations.

"We [the ministry] expect the report to serve as a useful tool for Vietnamese firms to grasp an idea about their own level and find ways to boost creativity and innovation from within the organisations and to improve productivity," said Huy.

In addition, the report focused on the firms' internal capacity for creativity and innovation with regards to their long-term strategy, operation, customers, human resources, leadership and business culture. It is also a tool to help managers to understand the impact of infrastructure and the business environment on the growth potential of businesses.

Meanwhile, the criteria will serve to find good practices among Vietnamese firms and help spread them on a national scale. — VNS