Viet Nam plans to focus on improving the science and technology market with the establishment of three trading platforms in order to reduce reliance on imports, Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat has said.

Dat pointed out that there was a huge demand for technology among Vietnamese enterprises and improving the science and technology market was crucial to improve the competitiveness of enterprises.

Accordingly, a key solution would be the establishment and operation of three technology trading platforms in the country’s three regions which would be connected with local and regional platforms, he said.

Viet Nam currently remained heavily reliant on the import of technologies and equipment.

The Ministry of Science and Technology pointed out that the science and technology market in Viet Nam was still in its infancy with limited domestic supply.

The supply for the science and technology market mainly came from research and development at institutes, universities, technology incubation centres, enterprises as well as through technology import and transfer from abroad.

A survey showed that only 16 per cent of enterprises regarded institutes and universities of Viet Nam as suppliers of science and technology products.

According to statistics of the General Statistics Office and the General Department of Customs, Viet Nam spent around US$40 billion in buying technologies, equipment and machinery in 2020, 1.5 times higher than 2016.

The ministry cited statistics that about 75 per cent of technologies and equipment of Vietnamese firms were imported.

While the import from the US, the Republic of Korea and the European Unions saw slight increases in recent years, Viet Nam was dependent of the import from developing countries with low and medium technology levels.

The domestic supply remained limited while many research results of domestic institutes and universities had not been transferred or were not yet ready to be applied in production and business, the ministry said.

The demand for technology and equipment of enterprises in Viet Nam increased rapidly in recent years but it remained difficult for them to access supply of high-quality technologies coupled with limited supply in technology absorption and capacity.

There was a lack of attention to increasing the capacity of intermediary organisations which provided consultancies, brokerage services, promotion and technology transfer.

The ministry said that national trading platforms would be established and act as intermediaries to connect supply and demand in the science and technology market, commercialise research and development results and provide support to promoting science and technology products.

Investment would be poured into developing a database and a portal about the science and technology markets.

There were about 800 intermediary organisations operating in the science and technology market, including technology transfer promotion centres, evaluation centres and incubators.

Besides, it was necessary to establish channels to import advanced technologies in the world with priority placed on technologies from developed countries.

The national science and technology market development programme by 2030 stressed the importance of investing and developing the national technology trading platforms in Ha Noi, HCM City and Da Nang. — VNS