'Is Vietnam becoming the world's technology dumping ground?'

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan wondered: Is Vietnam becoming the world's technology dumping ground and can amending the Technology Transfer Law fix this?

Presenting the draft revised Law on Technology Transfer to the National Assembly Standing Committee this morning, Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh commented that after nearly a decade, the current law has revealed a number of problems and inadequacies, lacking legal tools to control and prevent the import of outdated technologies.

Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan

The auditing agency, the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, agreed: "We still transfer technology through purchasing machinery and equipment, most of which are 2-3 generations outdated..., directly affecting the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy."

According to this Committee, the situation of “circumventing the law” to bring outdated technology into Vietnam needs to have sanctions appropriate to the nature of the technology level to prevent it. The Committee recommends comprehensively amending the Law on Technology Transfer, said Chairman of the Committee Phan Thanh Binh.

This is also a concern of the National Assembly Standing Committee during the discussion. Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan frankly asked: "Is Vietnam becoming the world's technology dumping ground and can amending the law fix this?"

Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh

Taking the serious environmental incident caused by Formosa as an example, the Chairman of the National Assembly pointed out the role of technology and the control of technology imports into domestic production lines.

Also discussing the Formosa story, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu pointed out that the consequences of outdated technology not only affect the environment, but in reality have also been shown to have an impact on security, order, life, and social security.

"From there, the question arises whether we do not have a strong legal basis, the 2006 Technology Transfer Law is still limited, or whether state management is not good. In my opinion, it is both, and both of these problems must be overcome," said Mr. Uong Chu Luu.

Chairman of the Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children Phan Thanh Binh asked about the remaining problems in the past 10 years in the internal technology transfer within the country between institutes, schools and enterprises, from laboratories to practice, from technology startup incubators to specific products...

Mr. Phan Thanh Binh

According to Minister Chu Ngoc Anh, the biggest difficulty is the market: "Businesses seem to not have their own demand for technology. There are many technologies being researched, but to turn them into commodities, investment is required. But businesses do not yet have the mindset of competing equally with technology as a weapon."

According to the Minister, this is where the state needs to step in to find buyers, especially businesses that are really interested in technology but have limited financial resources.

"It is also necessary to develop intermediary organizations, because scientists only stop at the laboratory door. It is someone else who has to go there to bring the technology out to sell," he said.

According to Vietnamnet.vn