Strong breakthroughs of Resolution 57

First of all, it is necessary to emphasize that the Party and State have always paid great attention to the development of science and technology throughout the renovation period. Typical examples are Resolution No. 02-NQ/HNTW dated December 24, 1996 of the 2nd Central Conference of the 8th tenure, Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW dated November 1, 2012 of the 6th Central Conference of the 11th tenure, Resolution No. 52-NQ/TW dated September 27, 2019 of the 13th Politburo, Conclusion No. 69-KL/TW dated January 11, 2024 of the 13th Politburo, in addition to affirming that science and technology "is the top national policy", many solutions have been proposed to promote the development of science and technology; The Law on Science and Technology 2013 institutionalized Resolution 20, creating a legal corridor for science and technology development with many new mechanisms and policies in line with the market economy and international practices... However, after many years of implementation, these policies are still slow to be institutionalized and have not yet promoted the innovation process.

Reality over the past time has shown that the implementation mechanism to put the Party's Resolution into practice has not been really effective, the thinking of the management system has been slow to innovate, leading to solutions being ineffective or not being thoroughly implemented. Therefore, up to now, it can be said that Vietnamese science and technology have not really strongly promoted the rapid and sustainable development of the economy, not commensurate with the role of "foundation, driving force" and "leading national policy" as expected.

5 breakthroughs of Resolution 57

Now, in the context of the digital transformation revolution, for the first time in Resolution 57-NQ/TW dated December 22, 2024 of the Politburo, science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation are placed in the position of "the most important breakthrough" with important, specific goals and unprecedented drastic solutions.

First BreakthroughThat is, our Party has set specific high-level goals by 2030 and 2045 so that Vietnam can become a high-income developed country.

Accordingly, by 2030, Vietnam will be in the top 3 countries in Southeast Asia, the top 50 countries in the world in terms of digital competitiveness and e-Government development index; the top 3 countries in Southeast Asia in research and development of artificial intelligence, the center for developing a number of digital technology industries and fields in which Vietnam has advantages. By 2045, Vietnam will have a digital economy of at least 50%, and be in the top 30 countries in the world in terms of innovation and digital transformation... These are very difficult goals, and to achieve them, we must make great efforts.

Second BreakthroughResolution 57 identifies the need to increase investment in science, technology, innovation and digital transformation.

Specifically, by 2030, spending on research and development (R&D) will reach 2% of GDP, of which social investment will account for more than 60%; allocate at least 3% of total annual budget expenditure for science, technology development, innovation, national digital transformation and gradually increase according to development requirements.

This is quite a challenging goal if we look back at the investment situation over the past years, state budget expenditure on science and technology has gradually decreased and is often below 1% of total state budget expenditure, no year has reached the level prescribed by Resolution 20 and the Law on Science and Technology 2013.

Social investment sources mainly come from business investment, due to the intrinsic need of businesses to innovate technology and create new products that are competitive in the market.

Although the Law on Science and Technology and the Law on Corporate Income Tax have stipulated that enterprises are allowed to deduct a maximum of 10% of taxable income, in which state-owned enterprises are required to deduct a minimum of 3% of taxable income to invest in R&D through the enterprise's science and technology development fund, due to inadequacies in the management mechanism, most enterprises have not implemented this regulation so far.

Increasing investment according to Resolution 57 will approach the investment level of developed countries, thereby creating motivation for the Vietnamese scientific community and enhancing the national science and technology potential. However, to achieve such a high investment level, it is necessary to have sanctions and measures to support businesses. It is even advisable to remove the 10% taxable income ceiling and regulate the business fund management mechanism more openly, because Vietnamese businesses are mostly small and micro enterprises, requiring large financial resources for digital transformation and technological innovation.

Third BreakthroughResolution 57 has made a breakthrough in thinking in managing state budget investment for R&D activities.

Accordingly, the budget for research and development of science and technology is prioritized to be implemented according to the fund mechanism, through science and technology development funds.

This thinking was mentioned in Resolution 20-NQ/TW in 2012, but for more than 10 years we have been unable to do this, because financial management still maintains the old thinking, not paying attention to the specificity of the science and technology field, investing in it like the basic construction field.

For example, the current regulation is that the budget is only granted for tasks that have been approved in advance by competent authorities and are on the list of tasks in the previous year's state budget estimate, so scientists have to wait every year to receive funding for tasks that have been proposed and approved.

This time, Resolution 57 has very specific regulations and if there is strong direction, it will certainly create changes. Because the fund mechanism is an international practice, meaning that the state budget funding for S&T tasks (topics, plans, projects, S&T programs, etc.) will be allocated directly to S&T development funds according to the charter capital and the ability to arrange annual budget sources.

Funds from the funds will be provided in a timely manner according to the progress of task approval, transferred automatically and settled once upon the end of the research contract. This approach meets the timeliness of research activities, creates favorable conditions for scientists and is consistent with international practice.

The next breakthroughResolution 57 identifies "risk-taking, venture capital and delay in scientific research, technology development and innovation".

For a long time, management agencies and public opinion have believed that state-funded research tasks must be 100% successful, and if not successful, they will be considered wasteful, causing loss of state budget.

But in reality, doing research means finding something new, so there is always the potential for failure, and even in developed countries, the rate of successful topics applied to practice is only about 20-30%. That is also the reason why developed countries have a system of venture capital funds and a culture of accepting failure in research, thanks to which they have unicorn businesses, technology corporations with many high-tech products.

With this innovative regulation of Resolution 57, scientists will certainly be encouraged to dare to think, dare to do, dare to take on tasks when accessing state budget investment for science, technology, and innovation. Because they are assured that if they fail, they will be exempted from responsibility, as well as gain experience to help them avoid failure in the next tasks.

The final breakthroughis the feasibility in organizing the implementation of the Resolution.

For the first time, the head of our Party directly serves as the Head of the Steering Committee for the implementation of the Resolution, and in addition to the Steering Committee, there is also an Advisory Council consisting of qualified and prestigious managers and scientists. This is a way to overcome the shortcomings of previous stages, when the Steering Committees often only included representatives of state management agencies, did not have enough power in the political system and were heavily term-based.

To put the Party's Resolution into practice requires the synchronous participation of the entire political system, not just the executive branch, a change in the thinking of the entire management apparatus from the central to local levels, a complete legal corridor with scientific and practical nature for new breakthrough regulations, support from all classes of people and businesses, and conformity with international practices.

This is a long-term, complicated process that requires consistent and decisive direction from the highest leader of the country, not limited to a few terms, and must gather the intelligence of the domestic and international elite.

To make scientists truly key players

It is also necessary to add more about the content of Resolution 57 when identifying "scientists as key factors", along with solutions to attract, employ, and retain leading scientists, experts, and "chief engineers" at home and abroad. Especially, in the context that we are implementing many important large projects, such as the North-South high-speed railway, restarting the nuclear power project, and semiconductor microchip projects, if there are no scientists in charge to form a strong scientific collective, we certainly cannot succeed.

This is not a new issue, but for many years we have been aware of the role of scientists in socio-economic development, Resolution 20 also determined "there is a special policy for leading science and technology cadres, science and technology cadres assigned to preside over important national tasks, talented young science and technology cadres", but in reality we have done almost nothing, because the biggest obstacle is being hindered by the provisions of many different laws.

In order for scientists to truly be the key factor, there must be mechanisms and policies to employ and treat them better and more feasible. Resolution 57 has proposed many important solutions. To implement them, the Steering Committee needs to pay synchronous attention not only to salary and income treatment regimes but more importantly, to create working conditions and a creative environment, that is, to trust, order and assign tasks to scientists, invest in the best facilities, facilitate international cooperation, give them the highest autonomy in finance, organization, and personnel, including giving them the right to establish and operate science and technology enterprises based on research results, helping to form strong collectives in research and technology application activities.

To do so, we must review and amend a series of related laws, for example the Law on Science and Technology, the State Budget Law, the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, the Law on Civil Servants, tax laws, etc., to have truly breakthrough policy mechanisms that create favorable conditions for scientists.

Many people say that the goals set by Resolution 57 are quite high and challenging, but still feasible because we have had more than 10 years of implementing Resolution 20-NQ/TW in 2012 and the Law on Science and Technology in 2013, more than 5 years of implementing Resolution 52 and the National Digital Transformation Program according to Decision 749/QD-TTg, which means we have had a favorable start in both theory and practice, and the innovative thinking in science and technology management has been partly prepared and met.

In particular, experiences in organizing and implementing Resolution 20 and Resolution 52 help to clearly understand the reasons for failure and identify solutions to overcome weaknesses in leadership and management.

We are gradually approaching some indicators, such as the TFP index has now reached over 35%, the global innovation capacity index GII in 2024 has reached 44/138 countries and 2/33 low-middle income countries, the proportion of digital economy has reached nearly 18% of GDP. This is an important basis for us to believe that Resolution 57 on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and digital transformation will be successfully implemented!

(* Former Minister of Science and Technology, Chairman of Vietnam Automation Association)