In 2023, Vietnam ranked 46 out of 132 countries and economies in the Global Innovation Index, up two notches from 2022.

Vietnam's National Innovation Centre in Hoa Lac.

Vietnam is also one of seven middle-income countries that have made the most progress in innovation over the past decade and one of three countries with innovation results exceeding the level of development for 13 consecutive years. Notably, Vietnam’s startup ecosystem climbed from the fifth to the third position among the six leading economies in Southeast Asia.

An important milestone in 2023 was the inauguration of the National Innovation Centre in Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park, which boosted the formation and development of Vietnam’s innovation ecosystem.

These results demonstrate the efforts of the Government and the business community in proactively keeping pace with digital transformation and innovation trends. However, the innovation process in today’s businesses still faces numerous obstacles, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Policies to support innovation are still scattered and not focused on each industry, profession or field. There are still limitations in building incubation, training and consulting organisations for startups, as well as the lack of connection between institutes and universities with startup ideas.

In practice, science and technology have not truly become the key driving forces of socio-economic development. Businesses and investors still face many difficulties when implementing projects to develop and apply science and technology, especially when bringing science and technology products to the market.

According to economic experts, to promote innovation activities, it is necessary to combine international and domestic trends, including new technologies, the digital economy, the sharing economy, and effective management of resources and strengths of Vietnam or each locality and each enterprise.

Furthermore, it is necessary to continue improving mechanisms and policies having good impacts, take advantage of development planning opportunities to build innovation areas and centres, deal with bottlenecks that are easy to fix but have a big impact first, and pay attention to public sector innovation mechanisms and policies.

It is also necessary to quickly remove the bottlenecks in business conditions, and pilot specific mechanisms and policies to promote innovation in several important and emerging fields.

Promoting innovation in the business community requires not only the efforts of businesses but also innovation from management agencies in policy promulgation, because after all, innovation, digital transformation, and green transformation are revolutions in institutions and policies.