"2014 is the year of action for science and technology"

On the occasion of the beginning of the year of the Horse, Dr. Nguyen Quan, Minister of Science and Technology, affirmed that 2014 will be a year of action for this industry, especially after the revised Law on Science and Technology officially took effect from January 1.

Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan (Photo: TH/Vietnam+)

Innovation in thinking

- Dear Minister, could you please briefly review some of the achievements that the Ministry of Science and Technology made in 2013?

Minister Nguyen Quan:In 2013, the most important achievement was the National Assembly's approval of the revised Law on Science and Technology.

This law has approached the criteria of market economy, international practices in science and technology activities. Especially the organization of topics, projects on science and technology and investment and financial mechanisms for science and technology.

Through the Law, for the first time, we force state-owned enterprises to be responsible for investing in science and technology activities by allocating a portion of their pre-tax profits to establish the enterprise's Science and Technology Development Fund. This is also the first time the Ministry of Science and Technology has been given authority to allocate annual budget estimates for science and technology, and is also the first time it allows the application of the Science and Technology Development Fund mechanism in funding research topics and projects, and allocating funds to the final product for topics and projects.

Thus, in the near future, scientists will be given more favorable conditions to be able to have good quality project topics, with results contributing to socio-economic development.

In 2013, major research institutes, universities and the entire industry also had topics and projects with good results. For example, for the first time, we published the gene map of 36 Vietnamese native rice varieties, which helps in the creation and improvement of new varieties with high productivity... Or, in the field of technology, the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group is building a 120m water drilling rig (after the success with the 90m water drilling rig)...

In addition, 2013 also witnessed many successful models of applying science and technology such as the model of An Giang Plant Protection Company. We have mastered a number of imported plant and animal varieties that are currently growing very well (seedless oranges, orchids, etc.).

In the field of biotechnology, Vietnamese scientists have also successfully solved the problem of treating dioxin-contaminated soil caused by the war. In addition, the number of international scientific publications of Vietnam has a high citation rate. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, Vietnam ranks 76/142 countries in terms of innovation capacity, while in terms of economy, we rank 132. Vietnam is also ranked 57th in the world in terms of international publications and citations of international publications....

2013 also witnessed many sources of investment in science and technology (in addition to the annual 2% budget). These include the Military Telecommunications Group (Viettel) devoting 10% of pre-tax profits, the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group dedicating about 2,000 billion and many other units inside and outside the state have allocated funds to the Science and Technology Development Fund. From that Fund, they invited scientists to participate in research and production activities and achieved significant successes such as the Rang Dong Light Bulb and Thermos Company...

Investment through international cooperation is also very good. In 2013, we also launched the FIRST project funded by the World Bank with 100 million USD and Vietnam's counterpart capital of 10 million USD; the second phase of the Finland-Vietnam innovation project is 10 million Euros...

- Obviously, in 2013, the science and technology sector achieved many successes, but it seems that the Minister is still worried about many unfinished tasks…?

Minister Nguyen Quan:That's right! Our biggest concern is that building a legal foundation for science and technology is still difficult. And the biggest difficulty is changing the thinking of management agencies.
But this requires the involvement of the media to change their thinking (laughs).

In fact, the so-called innovations in our science and technology have been applied by the world community for a long time. For example, the world contracts and only controls output, which means paying attention to the final product. And, they only need to know what your final product is from the criteria, parameters, and market. If scientists can do it, they will settle the payment with just a few documents, not a thick stack of invoices like we have now.

Another problem is that after the revised Law on Science and Technology was passed, we immediately started to develop guiding decrees and many sub-law documents. However, it took us half a year to complete only 5 decrees and there are still many disagreements.

We have enough "weapons"

- To have a revised law with many improvements is difficult. But to make it truly play its role in life is much more difficult, Minister?

Minister Nguyen Quan:It is true that putting policies into practice is extremely difficult, and the biggest difficulty, as I said, is the mindset of the manager and furthermore, the coordination and unification of actions of relevant agencies.

For example, since 2005, the Government has issued a Decree on the autonomy mechanism, allowing science and technology organizations to conduct business as enterprises and to be granted a certificate of business registration if needed. However, due to the lack of uniformity in the documents, the Department of Planning and Investment refuses to grant a business registration certificate....

The Ministry of Science and Technology is making great efforts to coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to issue synchronous documents and disseminate training to the grassroots network, and other sectors must do the same. Only then can we avoid the situation where the Government issues a Decree, but without documents and training at the ministerial level, the lower levels will not implement it.

- The Minister said that 2012 was the starting year, 2013 was the pivotal year, so what will 2014 be for the science and technology sector?

Minister Nguyen Quan:2014 will be the year of action!

It is expected that in the first quarter, the entire Decree and Circular guiding the revised Law on Science and Technology will be issued and implementation will begin in the second quarter.

When we have enough "weapons" such as Laws, Resolutions, Decrees, Circulars and money (from domestic and foreign investment sources) ready, we must act.

In 2014, we will focus on major solutions such as investment from the State budget and business budgets for science and technology must grow effectively. 2014 is the first year that State corporations and general companies must invest in science and technology, at least 3-8% of profits, and a maximum of 10% of pre-tax profits...

The Ministry of Science and Technology's viewpoint is to only spend the state budget where society does not invest, where it must be effective, not to use the budget evenly, each locality a little bit because that is a waste of resources. I think that where it is doing well, it must invest a lot, where it is not doing well - including the ministries - if the money is not used effectively, it must be cut.

In addition, the Ministry will focus on national science and technology programs, moving towards reducing key state-level programs (KC, KX).

Previously, we had 10 key state-level programs on science and technology and 4 key programs on society and humanities. However, due to the management and the concept of the scientific community, the products from these programs were not in a chain, but spread out. That is, whoever had a need could propose research support, not combine them into a main product.

Over the past few years, the Ministry of Science and Technology has adjusted and submitted national programs to the Prime Minister for approval. These are a combination of project topics that aim to create national products. For example, how can we have a Vietnamese rice brand in the international market?

Finally, on the occasion of the New Year of the Horse, I would like to send to the readers of the Electronic NewspaperVietnam+Best wishes for the new year. I wish each of us to be imbued with the spirit of science and technology, so that science and technology can truly enter life and become the country's top national policy.

- I would like to sincerely thank the Minister and wish the Ministry of Science and Technology a year of drastic and effective action, so that science and technology can truly become the main lever of the economy!./.

According to VNA