Minister Nguyen Manh Hung: Second innovation to 'escape the middle-income trap'

Vietnam's first innovation was to escape poverty, the second innovation was to "escape the middle-income trap" and become a high-income developed country.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung - Minister of Science and Technology

That was the sharing of Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung at the forum "Future of science and technology, innovation and national digital transformation", held on the morning of August 29.

New momentum

According to Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, over the past 80 years, science and technology have accompanied the nation in overcoming wars, building the country, and bringing Vietnam step by step to integration and development.

According to Mr. Hung, Vietnam's first innovation in 1986 opened the era of integration and development of a socialist-oriented market economy . The second innovation is about innovation and digital transformation, building a new ecosystem where businesses, scientists, people and the state participate in creating value.

"The first innovation is to escape poverty, the second innovation is to escape the middle-income trap and become a high-income developed country. The first innovation takes agriculture, industry, processing and assembly as the driving force, while the second innovation takes science and technology, innovation and digital transformation as the central driving force for development," said Mr. Hung.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said today's forum is not only to discuss challenges and opportunities, but also to commit to taking action to master strategic technology. "Because not mastering today's technology means not having national sovereignty."

At the same time, build a national innovation system linked to the needs of businesses and society. Build a creative startup nation based on digital technology and innovation.

Accelerate comprehensive and nationwide digital transformation. And especially, turn science and technology, innovation and digital transformation into strength for Vietnam to rise up, contributing to realizing the aspiration of developing a prosperous and happy country.

The top priority is to train highly qualified human resources.

Prof. Dr. Le Anh Tuan - Chairman of the Council of Hanoi University of Science and Technology - said that according to the General Statistics Office, by 2023 Vietnam will have about 52.4 million people aged 15 and over (accounting for over 50% of the population), of which the number of workers trained from college or higher will only account for 12.7%, while in developed countries this rate is from 40 - 50%.

According to him, in the context of promoting science and technology, innovation and digital transformation, the top priority is to train highly qualified human resources, and the Government is the "support" for this.

"Currently, there is a contradiction in university education in Vietnam. That is, schools must be financially autonomous, leading to some schools, instead of improving quality and training at a high level, increasing the scale of university enrollment a lot, while there is no postgraduate education.

Postgraduate education is not the level of education that students have to pay for, but the government has to pay for students. Because this is the level of education that creates technology, brings value to society and industry. If the government can invest like that, universities will be very determined, spending time on research and students," said Mr. Tuan.

Prof. Dr. Le Anh Tuan - Chairman of the Council of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, at the discussion session - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

Mr. Nguyen Phu Tien - Deputy Director of the National Digital Transformation Agency - said that the Ministry of Science and Technology is building a series of laws on science and technology, innovation and digital transformation; infrastructure and human resources to realize the tasks.

He added that in order to attract and mobilize resources to implement digital transformation, the Ministry of Science and Technology is also developing a network of experts, schools, and institutes at home and abroad to contribute initiatives. There are currently more than 300 experts and will continue to expand.

Required selection

Deputy Minister Hoang Minh said that Resolution No. 57 of the Politburo identifies three pillars, including science and technology, innovation and digital transformation, as the central driving force, contributing to creating breakthroughs in socio-economic development.

According to him, this is the first time these three groups have come together in a resolution of the Politburo, and merged into one management ministry.

Less than 5% of countries in the world recognize the importance of these three and bring them together in one place, knowing how to connect them together to form an ecosystem, and Vietnam is among the pioneers in this approach.

"This trio is a mandatory choice, a strategic choice, a top priority, a prerequisite, an opportunity for Vietnam to become rich and powerful in the new era," Deputy Minister Hoang Minh commented.

NGUYEN BAO

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-truong-nguyen-manh-hung-doi-moi-lan-2-de-thoat-bay-thu-nhap-trung-binh-20250829110330757.htm