Intellectual property rights (IPR) ownership – a powerful impetus for innovation.

The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Intellectual Property Law, recently passed by the National Assembly (December 10, 2025), marks an important shift in the thinking regarding the management and exploitation of intellectual property assets.

Transforming intellectual property (IP) into assets that can be valued, bought, sold, mortgaged, or contributed as capital.

While previous legal regulations primarily focused on protecting intellectual property rights and addressing infringements, this revised Intellectual Property Law opens up a new perspective: transforming intellectual property into a real asset with economic value, which can be appraised, bought, sold, mortgaged, contributed as capital, and circulated like other assets of a business.

This is not just a simple legal change, but a reform in thinking, establishing a foundation for intellectual property to become a driving force for growth in the country's new development phase.

According to Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung, the overarching principle in this revised Intellectual Property Law is: Intellectual property must transform research results into tradable assets; it must become an asset of businesses, capable of being valued, bought and sold, included in financial reports, and potentially used as collateral for loans and capital contributions, especially for new technologies, digital technologies, and AI. The Minister stated... This highlights the urgent need for a science and technology policy system in the context where knowledge, data, and technology are increasingly playing a decisive role in national competitiveness.

The amended Intellectual Property Law has added important regulations to create a legal framework for the asset management of intellectual property. Most importantly, it introduces a mechanism allowing businesses to fully record, track, and value intellectual property assets. Items such as inventions, trademarks, software, designs, data, and trade secrets are now legally recognized as assets that can be managed like other tangible assets. In particular, the Law allows businesses to value intellectual property assets that are not yet eligible for recognition on the balance sheet through internal accounting records, creating a foundation for businesses to better understand their true value and proactively build a portfolio of assets to support capital raising and market participation.

With the addition of mechanisms for valuing, buying, selling, contributing capital, and mortgaging intellectual property rights, the amended Intellectual Property Law is expected to facilitate the development of intellectual property transactions, gradually forming a market for technology and intellectual property.

The law also aligns with the major policies of the Party and State on science, technology, and innovation, consistent with the direction of the Law on Digital Technology, the Law on Innovation, the Law on Digital Transformation, and the Law on Artificial Intelligence, which were recently passed by the National Assembly. This is an important foundation for forming a national innovation ecosystem, in which intellectual property is not only an object of protection but also a financial resource, directly contributing to growth.

However, for the real implementation of intellectual property rights (IPR) monetization, many challenges need to be addressed. Businesses need to improve their intellectual property management capabilities; valuation organizations need to professionalize; and regulatory agencies need to improve the national database on intellectual property transactions. In addition, credit institutions must develop risk assessment models suitable for intellectual property, instead of applying traditional standard frameworks.

Intellectual property rights (IPR) ownership is a crucial step in enhancing Vietnam's position in the global value chain, where a nation's value lies not only in its resources or labor but also in its creative capacity, technological mastery, and intangible assets.

With the newly completed legal framework, intellectual property asset ownership is becoming a crucial growth driver. This will be a strong impetus to promote innovation in businesses, attract high-quality investment, and form a dynamic technology market, creating a foundation for Vietnam to enter the group of knowledge-based economies in the near future.

Center for Science and Technology Communication

Source: https://mst.gov.vn/tai-san-hoa-shtt-cu-hich-manh-me-thuc-day-doi-moi-sang-tao-19725121213512868.htm