.png "Localities should not only focus on the innovation rankings.")
Mr. Nguyen Quang Dong, Director of the Institute for Policy and Media Development (IPS), has many years of research experience in digital technology policy. In an interview with VnExpress about the 2023 Provincial Innovation Index (PII) released by the Ministry of Science and Technology, he believes that this is an important measure that provides localities with additional motivation for innovation.
With the newly released PII, what noteworthy points do you see?
The biggest highlight of the 2023 PII is that it creates a measure to help each locality understand where they stand, their strengths and weaknesses, or what is lacking in the process of building and creating an environment for innovation.
The biggest highlight of the 2023 PII is that it creates a measure to help each locality understand where they stand, their strengths and weaknesses, or what is lacking in the process of building and creating an environment for innovation.
The PII also paints a general picture, allowing localities to look at each other, compare, and create greater motivation for action. From the business side, they also gain more data when considering and choosing where to invest. When businesses look at the index and increase their investments, it acknowledges the efforts of the locality.
The PII effectively reflects the specific context of Vietnam. Innovation is essentially a process; before achieving results, resources and input factors are needed. Existing international indicators often prioritize measuring results in their assessments. Meanwhile, most provinces are still in the process of building and taking their first steps. Recognizing input factors—namely the investment efforts and initiatives of the locality—is also essential.
The strength of this index lies in recognizing the implementation process while awaiting input factors (such as institutions and policies) to transform into output (products and innovative results). Such an assessment is more comprehensive and fairer. This encourages localities to improve better, rather than just focusing on results.
So how should localities use this index?
Localities may feel anxious when looking at their rankings, but what is more important is to use the PII as a "health checkup." Understanding where they are weak or what will contribute long-term to improving the innovative environment is the most crucial aspect.
Competition among places is beneficial, but if they genuinely want to improve their situation, localities must reflect on and analyze each component deeply, finding their strengths and weaknesses to achieve final results. Each locality will have its own specific characteristics; like lifting weights, if your weight class is 70 kg, you shouldn’t try to lift at the level of someone who weighs 100 kg.
However, most of the top localities in the PII are large urban areas with high income, such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, or places concentrating on industrial parks like Bac Ninh and Binh Duong. Is this unfair to smaller localities?
It is true that larger provinces and cities have more natural advantages. However, localities should focus on the strengths currently present in Vietnam's innovation landscape. In fact, the industries that are experiencing strong growth are services and consumption, notably e-commerce, media/advertising, and entertainment services.
One point I think we should be proud of is that for every 25 mobile games created globally, one game comes from Vietnam. Moreover, 6 out of 10 most-played mobile games belong to Vietnamese creators. Gaming is one of the few service industries that successfully exports high value-added services. The digital environment and digital technology truly create a new environment and motivation for innovation. These products are also "tested" and validated by global metrics.
In these industries, creative activities are not dependent on geographical location. The advantages of the internet and digital technology help erase distances and reduce disadvantages. Localities such as Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh, and Thua Thien Hue still have a fair competitive advantage compared to economic powerhouses like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in developing service and scientific centers. What is important is the quality of the living environment and social services (healthcare, education, entertainment) to attract labor and businesses.
This is a different phase from the old development model based on FDI, which needs to be situated in "development zones" with good logistics, transportation, and supportive industrial chains. Vietnam’s innovative advantages should be viewed in creative industries, where services, tourism, entertainment, and culture lead the way.
Looking more broadly, this advantage addresses the weaknesses of innovation in the previous industrial processing-based model, such as very high R&D costs, solid infrastructure for manufacturing, and a large pool of scientific and technological personnel. This is an area where Vietnam has struggled over three decades of industrialization.
Conversely, in service industries like digital technology, there are notable success stories in attracting quality human resources and creating innovative products. For example, companies in Silicon Valley don’t need a headquarters in Vietnam to work with or connect to Vietnamese businesses. The path to bringing the intellectual products of businesses into the global market is also facilitated by global digital infrastructure through internet connectivity and cloud computing infrastructure.
Some localities have good input factors (institutional, human capital, research and development (R&D), infrastructure, market and business development levels) for innovation, but the outputs (intellectual technology products, impacts) are not commensurate. How can the outputs of these activities be more effective?
This is a challenging issue for localities because outputs—good products and services that bring about significant change—are primarily the responsibility of businesses. Creating a well-structured product requires a long process. While Vietnam's strength lies in learning and applying rather than creating from scratch, which means scientific research follows a process to promote innovation.
From this perspective, Vietnam is somewhat similar to China a decade ago, meaning rapid imitation. Meanwhile, under market competition pressure, businesses adjust to create products that adapt to domestic needs. For example, from Uber and Grab, a similar ride-hailing model has been developed. There are no new business models or core technologies invented, but there are still innovative elements for success in Vietnam.
I believe we should acknowledge such characteristics for Vietnamese businesses to choose which segment to enter in the global value chain. At the national level, policy design will be more appropriate than the Western-style innovation model, which heavily invests in R&D and connects universities and businesses. Consequently, the role of localities is to create a favorable environment for the innovation ecosystem, rather than demanding immediate results. The fruitful outcomes will emerge from businesses. Localities are where the "soil" is prepared.
Thus, localities need to prioritize doing well in areas only they can perform, including issues related to institutions, infrastructure, incentives, and encouraging investment. They should not use some results from businesses as the primary metrics to evaluate the government's efforts.
In reality, there is still much room for local governments to implement policies. Because policies for the digital services and creative sectors remain quite vague. The institutional environment for businesses to operate confidently (business establishment procedures, product licensing, taxation, and copyright protection) is still limited, causing anxiety among innovators.
Another bottleneck that many localities encounter is the quality of training and labor productivity. To improve this crucial factor for innovation, what do you think needs to be done at the local level?
Education is indeed a persistent weakness and has become even more serious as the era of AI has arrived. Our education system is heavily focused on knowledge transmission and memorization, while Google, and now ChatGPT, can answer everything related to knowledge.
Therefore, this field needs a fundamental change in philosophy, which is to teach how to think, ask questions, and critique. This aims to develop core competencies, including critical thinking and creativity, as workers in the AI era and global citizens.
Currently, the PII does not reflect this issue. Education and training in the index are measured by financial investment in this area and the proportion of trained labor—which focuses on quantity rather than reflecting changes in quality.
Thus, localities should pay attention to supporting and encouraging private investment in this area. Only private schools can quickly integrate subjects like STEAM (an interdisciplinary educational approach aimed at equipping learners with knowledge and skills from five fields: science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) into the system. Priority should be given to establishing leading private schools, creating pressure for the public school system to change.
According to VnExpress.
(This translation was assisted by an automated AI translation tool.)
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