The role of science - technology and innovation in socio -economic development
In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) taking place rapidly, with profound and multi-dimensional impacts on a global scale, some old growth drivers have "reached their limit" or are no longer suitable for the trend, many new development models in the world have emerged and been applied by countries, bringing about important achievements. In particular, the growth model taking science, technology and innovation as the main driving force has become an objective and inevitable trend for economic development, social governance, and enhancing the competitiveness of each country. Because science, technology and innovation are considered an important key to transforming the economic growth model from breadth to depth, the foundation of the knowledge economy and digital economy - the current development trend of the global economy. According to Article 3 of the Law on Science and Technology 2018: “Science is a system of knowledge about the nature, laws of existence and development of things, natural phenomena, society and thinking (Clause 1). “Technology is a solution, process, technical know-how with or without tools and means used to transform resources into products (Clause 2). “Innovation is the creation and application of achievements, technical solutions, technology, and management solutions to improve the efficiency of socio-economic development, improve productivity, quality, and added value of products and goods” (Clause 16).
Thus, science and technology and innovation are not only endless resources with unlimited development space, but also a means for a country to optimize the process of transforming the economic growth model, overcoming the disruption of production chains, improving the efficiency of production, business and social management activities, and being a condition to overcome the middle-income trap when building high-quality human resources to meet new development trends, while natural resources are limited and increasingly scarce. Practice has proven that, in recent times, countries in the world that have a strategy to effectively apply this model as the main driving force have had very impressive economic development, and their methods of national governance and social governance are increasingly modern, effective and efficient.
For our country, when integrating comprehensively and deeply into the regional and world economy, especially with the strong impact of the 4th Industrial Revolution, more than 10 years ago, in Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW, dated November 1, 2012, of the 6th Conference of the 11th Party Central Committee, "On developing science and technology to serve the cause of industrialization and modernization" (Resolution No. 20), our Party identified: "Developing and applying science and technology is the top national policy, one of the most important driving forces for socio-economic development and national defense". Next, in the 10-year Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2021 - 2030 approved at the 13th Congress, it continues to emphasize: "Strongly develop science - technology and innovation to create breakthroughs to improve productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy" (2) . To concretize the Party's viewpoints and policies, Decision No. 569/QD-TTg, dated May 11, 2022, of the Prime Minister, "Issuing the Strategy for Science - Technology Development and Innovation to 2030" requires: "Developing science - technology and innovation is a top national policy, playing a strategic breakthrough role in the new period; is the main driving force to promote growth, create breakthroughs in productivity, quality and efficiency; is a decisive factor in improving the competitiveness of the country, economic - social sectors, localities and enterprises; is the foundation for implementing national digital transformation; contributes significantly to improving people's lives, sustainable development, ensuring national defense and security". In particular, to create new momentum, breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation and digital transformation, bringing the country to develop strongly in the new era - the era of prosperity and strength, on December 22, 2024, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW, "On breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation", with the guiding viewpoint: "Developing science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation is the top important breakthrough, the main driving force to rapidly develop modern productive forces, perfect production relations, innovate national governance methods, develop the economy - society, prevent the risk of falling behind, bring the country to develop breakthroughs, become rich and strong in the new era".
Notable highlights
Adhering closely to the Party's viewpoints and guidelines and the State's policies and laws, a number of provinces and cities in the region have pioneered in choosing and applying the growth model with science, technology and innovation as the main driving force into practice and initially brought about outstanding and typical marks:
As a locality that always demonstrates a dynamic, creative, pioneering development mindset, leading the way in the country's comprehensive innovation, 25 years ago, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) took information technology (IT) as an effective tool to create an important method and driving force for the development of a knowledge-based economy, enhancing competitiveness in the process of international integration, contributing to promoting industrialization and modernization, ensuring rapid and sustainable development. Since 2000, HCMC has built Quang Trung Software Park, which, when put into operation, quickly became a model for the whole country in attracting and investing in software infrastructure, IT services and developing science and technology; spreading to the southern provinces and cities in applying science and technology in management, production and business.
An important milestone is the Resolution of the 10th Congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, term 2015 - 2020, which set out the policy: "Strongly developing science - technology and innovation to become the main driving force for socio-economic development associated with the development of the knowledge economy". With that spirit, the City's mechanisms and policies on science - technology and innovation are increasingly being improved, closely following the requirements of reality (3) , contributing to promoting the strong development of the innovation startup ecosystem, becoming the cradle of the startup business community across the country. Along with promoting international cooperation in the development of science - technology and innovation, the City promptly issued policies to support businesses in accessing capital, researching technological improvement, and modernizing production equipment; At the same time, support training, intellectual property management consulting, corporate income tax exemption for innovative enterprises, personal income tax exemption for science and technology and innovation human resources to help enterprises operate and produce more and more smoothly, affirm brand value and develop sustainably.
To form a growth engine center in the context of the strong development of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the City has implemented the project "Building Ho Chi Minh City into a smart city in the period of 2017 - 2020, with a vision to 2025", in which the highlight is the formation of a highly interactive creative urban area in the East, including District 2, District 9 and Thu Duc District (now Thu Duc City) based on the main pillars (including Ho Chi Minh City National University, High-Tech Park, Thu Thiem New Urban Area), in which the High-Tech Park has attracted many projects from famous science and technology corporations in the world such as Intel, Jabil (USA), Nidec, Nipro (Japan), Samsung (Korea), Datalogic (Italy). In October 2024, Ho Chi Minh City established the Center for Creative Startups to gather and connect resources of the domestic and foreign creative startup ecosystem; Research, develop, apply and transfer technology on innovative startups in a business-centric direction; organize and coordinate with schools and research institutes to search, select, incubate, support product development, build business models... for innovative startup projects in the fields that Ho Chi Minh City prioritizes for development. In particular, in the period of 2020 - 2025, Ho Chi Minh City focuses on implementing 6 science and technology research and innovation programs (4) bringing some outstanding results, that is, Ho Chi Minh City's innovative startup ecosystem ranks 111th in the world (according to Startupblink's ranking in 2023), currently striving to get closer to the Top 100 cities with the most dynamic innovative startup ecosystems globally; has been in the Top 100 global cities in four areas: Fintech (54th), Edtech (62nd), e-commerce & retail (71st) and transportation (87th). In terms of regional comparison, Ho Chi Minh City is ranked third in Southeast Asia in terms of startup ecosystem value after Singapore and Jakarta; along with Hanoi, it is in the Top 10 localities with the highest local innovation index in the country... The above factors have contributed to increasing the contribution ratio from the total factor productivity (TFP) of 4 key industries and 9 service industries of Ho Chi Minh City to GRDP in the period of 2020 - 2025 to an estimated over 50%.
During the period 2005 - 2010, Binh Duong province faced many difficulties, especially when the growth model based on the processing industry reached its limit; at the same time, the province also recognized the importance of science and technology for socio-economic development. However, the strong transformation began in 2015 when the 4.0 Industrial Revolution exploded, which was also the period when Binh Duong province promoted international integration, attracting less labor-intensive investors with many new opportunities and challenges. The province analyzed and correctly assessed the development trend, proposed strategic breakthrough programs, and raised political determination in choosing to apply the growth model based on science and technology and innovation as the main driving force associated with a series of socio-economic development programs, typically implementing the smart city project. During this period, Binh Duong province has elevated science, technology and innovation to a key role, as a driving force to shift from traditional production to a higher value-added, knowledge-intensive economy, building smart green cities, creating a premise for developing a knowledge-based economy and a digital economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has left huge consequences, but it is also a catalyst for countries to transform their supply and production networks closer together, and digitize more deeply; along with that, the strong development of science and technology has helped optimize production, costs and minimize risks... Those factors have impacted the development strategy of Binh Duong province, with many creative solutions, mobilizing all resources for science, technology and innovation to actively contribute to faster and more sustainable socio-economic development and overcome the middle-income trap.
In the process of applying the growth model with science, technology and innovation as the main driving force, Binh Duong province has integrated science, technology and innovation into general programs, closely linked with the activities of other sectors and fields to support each other to develop more effectively. In 2016, the project "Smart City - Binh Duong" was born as a dynamic and creative ecosystem, becoming a breakthrough and development driving force in the period of 2016 - 2020 with an action program through four areas (people, technology, business, fundamental factors), focusing on developing science, technology and innovation for a comprehensive breakthrough, creating a premise for developing a knowledge-based economy and a digital economy. To continue building "Smart City - Binh Duong" to a new level of development, in 2020, Binh Duong province will implement the theme "Deploying smart platforms to break through to the new era 4.0", deploy the "three-house" cooperation model (5) and actively cooperate with international organizations, smart cities, and science and technology creative urban areas in the world to develop high-quality human resources, promote the application of science and technology to all sectors and levels; promote innovation in the community, support startups, build a supply chain ecosystem, smart logistics, cross-border e-commerce; attract domestic and foreign enterprises, research institutes, and universities with strengths in the fields of science and technology, advanced manufacturing; promote the construction of database systems, e-government, administrative reform, and public services to support people and businesses. Notably, the establishment of the Science and Technology Industrial Park is a model that integrates the functions of industrial parks, science and technology parks and university clusters combined with smart cities to attract high-quality human resources, develop the innovation ecosystem, and promote the creation of new ideas. The establishment of Block71 Saigon Office (officially put into operation since October 2020) following the Singapore model, invested by Becamex Corporation and the National University of Singapore, located in Ho Chi Minh City has helped connect the innovation startup ecosystems of the two localities, creating a premise for connecting with ecosystems around the world. The process of building a "Smart City - Binh Duong" is also a driving force for the localities of the province to develop strongly, typically Thu Dau Mot city rising to a first-class urban area, Di An, Thuan An and Tan Uyen towns being recognized as cities; Bau Bang district becoming the northern industrial - urban center of Binh Duong province.
Entering the 2021 - 2025 period, in order to make a stronger and more specific breakthrough, Binh Duong province launched the project "Binh Duong Innovation Zone" - the core content of the project "Smart City - Binh Duong", this is a new model, formed on the basis of research, applying the success of innovation zones in the world such as Deajeon - Daedeok Innopolis (Korea) and Brainport Eindhoven (Netherlands). "Binh Duong Innovation Zone" is developed based on integrated planning, including urban development strategy, technical infrastructure, traffic connecting with Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai province to stimulate innovation to build an attractive investment environment, attract startups, science and technology enterprises and participate in major economic organizations in the world. These activities have created conditions for Binh Duong province to cooperate and attract investment from the world's leading corporations in science, technology and innovation such as Schneider, Philips, Bosch, NXP, Intel, TMA... and prestigious research institutes and universities such as Portland University (USA), National University of Singapore NUS, Taiwan Institute of Technology and Industry Research ITRI, Chungnam National University, Korea, Ho Chi Minh City National University, Institute of Mechanics and Applied Informatics - Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology... These are important resources for Binh Duong province to build increasingly complete and sustainable science, technology and innovation research centers. Binh Duong province has many programs applying science, technology and innovation into life that are leading the country, such as the modern centralized administrative center, geographic information system (GIS) with digitized data of planning maps across the province, automatic environmental monitoring system, waste source control in all industrial parks with synchronous investment; modern STEM/STEAM education methods, TechLab technology lab, FabLab, business incubator. In particular, the establishment of the Vietnam - Singapore Innovation Center in Binh Duong province in March 2023 with components of startup and advanced manufacturing centers, industry 4.0, automation-robotics, cyber security, smart manufacturing... step by step connecting, creating an environment for science, technology and innovation research, supporting businesses to transform production and business models to meet the trend of Industry 4.0, promoting Binh Duong province to develop in response to new requirements.
Some lessons learned from practice
Based on practice, with the outstanding achievements in the process of applying the growth model with science, technology and innovation as the main driving force in the provinces and cities of the region, some experiences have been drawn as follows:
Firstly, thoroughly grasping the spirit of Resolution No. 20 and Resolution No. 57 and correctly identifying the development trend, Party committees and authorities at all levels consider the development of science, technology and innovation as one of the key tasks, linking the goals and development of each sector and each locality. To implement effectively, localities always pay attention to organizing the learning of experiences, researching and applying advanced and effective management and exploitation models in the world on science, technology and innovation; promoting collective intelligence in discussing and unifying content to build strategic breakthrough programs and appropriate solutions to transform the state when applying the growth model with science, technology and innovation as the main driving force for socio-economic development.
Second, focus on leading and directing innovation in management mechanisms, investment methods and financial mechanisms; innovate the organizational system, attract human resources for science and technology and innovation; improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state management of intellectual property. Strengthen the call for and mobilization of social resources to develop science and technology and innovation infrastructure, invest in research equipment, improve the efficiency of key laboratories and specialized laboratories; develop high-tech zones and high-tech agricultural zones.
Third, pay attention to creating an open environment, mechanisms, and policies, proactively providing initial resources to activate the participation of domestic and foreign business communities with strengths in science, technology, and innovation to build research programs and projects that are consistent with reality and development trends, and have widespread influence. Strengthen leadership and direction of relevant sectors and agencies to identify and remove "bottlenecks" in mechanisms and policies for key areas such as public investment, finance, banking, etc. to free up resources for development.
Fourthly, in the context of increasingly deep international integration, the provinces and cities in the Southeast region always demonstrate vision, political determination, continuous innovation and creativity to take appropriate steps; maximize comparative advantages while taking advantage of, mobilizing, exploiting and effectively using resources in investment and development. In addition, the authorities proactively follow the reality, correctly assess the difficulties and obstacles to propose to the Party Committee and the government optimal, appropriate and timely solutions to arouse the aspirations of science and technology and innovation enterprises to rise up in production and business activities.
Fifth, the process of applying the growth model with science, technology and innovation as the main driving force always considers the human factor as the key, infrastructure as the focus - that is the breakthrough for development; doing a good job of planning the overall socio-economic development in a systematic and scientific manner. At the same time, the achievements that science, technology and innovation bring about must aim at the benefit of the people and businesses by solving well the issues of ensuring social security, making the material and spiritual life of the people increasingly improved, enjoying it in the best way.
Thus, the proactiveness and creativity in the process of applying the growth model based on science, technology and innovation as the main driving force for socio-economic development in the provinces and cities of the Southeast region have left valuable marks and lessons, in line with objective requirements and new development trends in the context, especially when the entire political system implements Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW, dated December 22, 2024, of the Politburo, "On breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation". In particular, the reorganization of administrative units at all levels and the merger of provinces and cities in the spirit of the Politburo (6) not only create new development space; but also create favorable conditions for localities to apply the growth model with science, technology and innovation as the main driving force to maximize the potential for differentiation, creating outstanding opportunities and competitive advantages to contribute to bringing the country forward in the new era of development./.
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(1) According to Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW, dated October 7, 2022, of the Politburo, "On socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security in the Southeast region to 2030, with a vision to 2045", accordingly, the Southeast region includes: Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh
(2) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates , National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2021, vol. I, p. 226
(3) Such as: Decision No. 672/QD-UBND, dated March 1, 2021, of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, "on approving the Project to support the development of the startup ecosystem and innovation in Ho Chi Minh City for the period 2021-2025"; documents of the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City: Resolution No. 19/2023/NQ-HDND, dated November 11, 2023, "Issuing regulations on criteria, subjects, conditions, and entitlement to salaries, wages, welfare regimes and other preferential policies for leadership positions in public science and technology organizations and remuneration for performing science and technology tasks"; Resolution No. 20/2023/NQ-HDND, dated November 11, 2023, "Regulating priority areas, criteria, conditions, content and support levels for innovation projects and creative startups in Ho Chi Minh City"
(4) These are: 1. Program for research, development and application of technology to serve smart cities and digital transformation; 2. Program for research, development and application of industrial technology; 3. Program for research, development and application of technology to serve health protection and care; 4. Program for research, development and application of high-tech agriculture; 5. Program for research and application to serve urban management and development; 6. Program for young science and technology incubators
(5) State: Government, local authorities at all levels; businesses: multinational corporations to businesses and startups in the region; schools: universities, colleges, research institutes and other educational and training institutions
(6) According to: Conclusion No. 126-KL/TW, dated February 14, 2025, of the Politburo and Secretariat, "on a number of contents and tasks to continue to arrange and streamline the organizational apparatus of the political system in 2025 and Conclusion No. 127-KL/TW, dated February 28, 2025, of the Politburo and Secretariat, "on implementing research and proposing to continue to arrange the organizational apparatus of the political system".
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