To generate economic growth and sustainable development goals, science and research must be accompanied by an environment that harnesses innovation. Jasmine Fellows and Kate Langford dive deep into how innovation is being fostered in Vietnam through a partnership with Australia.
Knowledge and innovation are transformative. They have the potential to underpin the future growth and prosperity of any nation. But fostering a developing innovation system is no easy feat. Vietnam’s National Agency for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation (NATEC) has been working with CSIRO and Australia to break down barriers to innovation.
A strong innovation system is complex. It relies on cohesion, connectivity, and communication. Actors across the system, from farmers to businesses, government and research organisations, must be able to work together to deal with challenges as they arise. It’s about generating, sharing and using new ideas, technologies and processes, and adapting and responding to opportunities.
The research sector must have capability not only in science but also in engaging with the private sector. And policies and regulations must enable innovation.
Vietnam has set itself a goal of becoming a developed, industrialised nation with a high-income by 2045. Instead of supplying aid in traditional ways, Australian has set itself up as an innovation partner to Vietnam.
Aus4Innovation (A4I) is a 10-year $33.5 million government-funded program aimed at strengthening Vietnam’s innovation system for inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic development. It makes sense, as Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in the ASEAN region and one of Australia’s most important partners in the region.
“In 2017, DFAT and MOST [Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology] established the Australia Vietnam Innovation Partnership,” says CSIRO’s Kim Wimbush, A4I program director. “And it was around this time that DFAT envisioned that development assistance could be utilised to support ambitious countries such as Vietnam to utilise science, technology and innovation to build the economy of the future.”
Together, NATEC (which sits under the Ministry) and CSIRO sought to understand what was needed to translate research into practical solutions that could help Vietnam achieve its economic ambitions. The partnership is now smashing barriers to innovation by enabling policy change and building connections and capacity.
Removing the bottlenecks
Pham Duc Nghiem, the Deputy Director of the National Agency for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Development (NATEC) of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam sees 3 clear barriers to innovation.
“The primary challenge is a lack of awareness. In some cases, scientists and researchers do not have a clear understanding of how to convert their research findings into practical applications,” says Nghiem. It indicates that building capacity is the first piece of the puzzle.
“The second challenge is inadequate legal and regulatory framework to facilitate the transfer and application of research results,” continues Nghiem. That indicates a closer look at policy and government relations is needed.
“The third challenge involves limited infrastructure and the technological adoption capabilities of enterprises.” While some infrastructure shortcomings can only be solved with time and investment, many have alternative solutions – a simplifying insight, or a new partner with underutilised capacity. The key here is building and nurturing connections. What may seem like serendipity or luck from the outside, can actually be encouraged by ensuring the right people are in the right place at the right time.
Understanding innovation
Some people think of innovation as a technological solution, gadget, invention or computer program that solves a problem. But the full innovation system must be leveraged for an innovation to truly take off.
“Initially, we must develop ideas and these ideas need to be innovative,” says Dr Ha Phuong Thu, an expert in biomedical nanomaterials, and one of the scientists involved in A4I. Thu is director of the Centre for Advanced Biomedical Materials under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST).
Thu explains the full innovation process from the researcher perspective. “These ideas then undergo rigorous systematic research to collect data, identify patterns, and define characteristics, all of which form the foundation of our research. Subsequently, once we have the results, we proceed to publish them in both prestigious national and international journals globally.
“Following the initial phase of fundamental research, we move on to the development and optimisation of the technology. Our focus is on ensuring that our technology is not only new but also creative and groundbreaking, with the capacity to produce useful products.
“Additionally, it is crucial that our process is scalable to the level required for industrial production. Following this, we secure patent protection to safeguard our innovations.
“The final step involves establishing a solid foundation of basic research and a technological base with protected patents. At this stage, we seek partnerships with businesses interested in collaborating to develop and bring these products to market.”
It’s an involved process, one that typically requires connections, policy, networks and collaboration across government, research and the private sector.
Through the CSIRO-NATEC partnership, the Commercialisation PLUS guide was born. CSIRO and Vietnamese partners co-developed and tested the how-to guide, which includes global best practice.
Commercialisation PLUS includes comprehensive tools and methods supporting researchers through a structured commercialisation process, within Vietnam’s context and is available free online, supporting researchers to better understand the innovation system.
Building connections
Building strong relationships, especially internationally takes considerable time. Trust is essential for support and investment in innovation.
“In essence, the key to fruitful collaboration lies in open communication, mutual trust, and a willingness to share challenges and insights,” says Nguyen Quoc Thang, Technical Chief at Phong Thuy Company.
The A4I program does not shy away from the fact it can take 5 to 10 years to form concrete partnerships. “We create innovation hubs and clusters to connect industry with research and with government to co-create solutions around focused thematic areas such as aquaculture in the Mekong, [and] horticulture across the whole country,” says Wimbush.
Given the complexity of the innovation system and the need to build connections, it’s no surprise that a new role has emerged to make those connections.
Much as financial brokers connect buyers and sellers, innovation brokers work across disciplines to connect companies, entrepreneurs, researchers, end-users, educators, products, services, potential partners and more. Being an innovation broker requires the right mix of personality, skills and experience required to operate effectively.
While CSIRO has a history of being an intermediary between researchers and industry, this type of innovation brokering has only been recognised in the past 10 to 20 years internationally. As such, perhaps it’s no surprise that even developed countries are racing to build skills in innovation brokerage.
Talking policy
All over the world, governments struggle to ensure their policies and legislation allow innovation to flourish, while having appropriate guardrails in place.
The quality of policy can make or break a technology’s application in the real world. “Delaying the approval process could render the technology obsolete and hinder its adoption by businesses,” says Thang.
A research manager at VAST acknowledged the challenges and the improvements that can be made.
“Currently, some policies are inconsistent and not aligned with practical realities. For instance, according to the State Budget Law, if a research institute commercialises or transfers technology, and generates revenue, that revenue will be deducted from the following year’s state budget. This effectively disincentivises research organisations,” he said earlier this year.
But things are already changing. In February, Vietnam enacted Resolution 193, a collection of mechanisms and policies to support the entire innovation pipeline. Public research organisations can now retain intellectual property rights to research and can invest in spin-offs to commercialise their findings. Researchers can undertake riskier research projects as they no longer need to return funding if their experiments fail to deliver expected outcomes. And there are a range of tax incentives to encourage investment into research and innovation.
Many of these solutions were debated in capability building activities undertaken through the A4I program. It’s a sign that Vietnam’s policymakers are listening and ready to support innovation.
Where to next?
With A4I slated to run to 2028, there are still several years to go. A4I will now be focusing on supporting the government in Vietnam to implement these policies that better enable innovation and support the country’s economic and sustainable development ambitions.
The company Phong Thuy is a leader in high-tech horticultural farming in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and specialises in growing vegetables for local and regional markets under hydroponics. Removing bottlenecks to commercialisation will help companies like this connect with researchers, who can understand their specific challenges and develop technologies to further automate and grow their operations.
A4I established a Horticulture Innovation Club in the Central Highlands, and through this Phong Thuy formed a partnership with the Institute of Agriculture Science for Southern Vietnam. This partnership has given the company access to high-quality research advice and joint R&D projects, enabling them to experiment and adopt novel varieties and farming techniques, significantly contributing to the company’s high sustainable growth today.
Several hundred farmers in the region and from the Mekong Delta have visited their farming operations models and brought back knowledge and technologies that they learned to apply on their own farms.
“It’s difficult for a business to independently develop a solution. Working with scientists and institutes that have already conducted research is crucial for transferring technology to businesses like ours,” says Thang.
As for the big picture, “I’m hopeful that the legacy of this program will lead to sustained, strong partnerships between Australia and Vietnam on science, technology and innovation, and that Vietnam will continue to see Australia as a trusted partner in this area,” says program director Wimbush.
Vietnam’s innovation system, like Australia’s, will play a key role in how it navigates increasingly extreme environmental challenges, which are expected to impact food production and sustainable development into the future.
“The robust bilateral agreements and excellent diplomatic relations between the two countries lay a solid foundation for expanding cooperation in science, technology, and innovation in the future,” says NATEC’s Nghiem.