Mechanisms to protect responsible research

The risk management policy in Decree 265/2025/ND-CP is not “financial leniency” but a mechanism to protect responsible research, aiming to accept objective risks in scientific activities, where failure is sometimes part of creativity.

However, this "risk acceptance" is very tightly controlled, associated with prevention mechanisms from the beginning - risk management during implementation - controlled risk acceptance - post-audit after the completion of the task.

Tight control of the task selection process

Specifically, to prevent risks from the input stage, right from the beginning, the National Fund for Science and Technology Development strictly controls the process of proposing and selecting tasks, ensuring that State budget resources are only allocated to organizations and individuals with real capacity and prestige in scientific research.

The Ministry of Science and Technology is gradually perfecting institutions and creating a legal corridor for innovation.

Accordingly, tasks will only be considered when the organization or individual registering to preside fully meets the legal conditions, financial capacity, professional capacity and facilities for research; at the same time, the dossier must have clear scientific arguments, specific risk management plans and expected output efficiency and impact efficiency after the completion of the task (within 2 - 5 years).

The evaluation and selection of tasks are conducted by the Scientific Council, review experts, and independent consultants invited from the Fund's Expert Database, including prestigious domestic scientists and managers, Vietnamese scientists abroad, and international experts. The evaluation process is conducted online in a closed process including comments and independent evaluations by review experts and secret ballots by the Scientific Council, to ensure objectivity, transparency, and avoid conflicts of interest, thereby selecting the right candidates with capacity and meeting the professional requirements of the task.

In the process of organizing the implementation of scientific, technological and innovative tasks, although the Fund does not directly intervene in the research process, it still monitors and tracks the progress and results of task implementation through the Fund's digital task management platform, ensuring that management is carried out regularly, continuously and based on actual data.

The Fund builds and applies a set of risk indicators to detect early signs of abnormalities related to implementation progress, product quality, and disbursement of funds, to screen out tasks at risk of failure, fraud, and delays.

In case the monitoring system or risk indicators show potential risks affecting the results, efficiency or transparency of the task, the Fund will activate the surprise inspection mechanism or organize thematic post-inspections, promptly assess and verify the causes and apply necessary measures to prevent damage, ensuring that the task is performed according to the objectives, progress and current regulations.

Ensure results are applied and transferred into practice

All scientific, technological and innovation tasks funded or supported by the Fund are evaluated and disbursed according to the principle of "disbursement according to results achieved". The Fund only pays the portion of funding corresponding to the volume of products and research results that have been confirmed to meet the requirements according to the contract and the results evaluation record.

After evaluating the results, the Fund continues to evaluate the output efficiency and impact of the research results within 2 to 5 years, to ensure that the results are applied, transferred into practice or have practical knowledge value, contributing to the development of national science and technology.

In case the task fails to achieve its objectives or the results do not meet the requirements, the Fund shall determine the cause of the risk for appropriate handling: If the risk is an acceptable risk, the Fund shall implement risk handling measures prescribed in Article 25 of Decree No. 265/2025/ND-CP dated October 14, 2025; If there is a violation of obligations, delay in progress or misuse of funds due to subjective errors, the Fund shall recover funds, suspend funding and put the violating organization or individual on the research credit warning list to limit participation in funding and support programs within the prescribed time limit.

Transfer and commercialize scientific and technological results and products, contributing to promoting socio-economic development.

The Fund builds a system to monitor the scientific community through publicizing the list of tasks, implementation progress and research results on the Fund's Electronic Information Portal, contributing to enhancing transparency, accountability and social supervision of the use of state budget for scientific research, technology and innovation.

In addition to administrative and financial control, the Fund focuses on building a culture of research with integrity, honesty and responsibility towards a transparent, trustworthy and effective scientific environment. The implementation of a management mechanism in an open, transparent and scientific trust-based direction is associated with the requirement to enhance the sense of responsibility, academic honesty and professional ethics of scientists, ensuring freedom of research coupled with accountability and effective use of state resources.

The National Foundation for Science and Technology Development has shifted from a "pre-control" mechanism to a "risk-based management and post-responsibility control" mechanism, combining legal, financial and research ethics tools to prevent, detect and promptly handle risks, ensuring transparent, safe and effective funding activities, and creating a favorable environment for responsible innovation.

Center for Science and Technology Communication

Source: https://mst.gov.vn/co-che-bao-ve-nghien-cuu-co-trach-nhiem-197251114112851779.htm