Announcing the local innovation index in 2023

The press conference was held with the participation of leaders of the Ministry of Science and Technology, units under the Ministry and press agencies.

Speaking at the press conference, Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat said that the Provincial Innovation Index (PII) for 2023 has been officially completed. The Ministry of Science and Technology believes that this is a useful document, providing scientific and practical bases for agencies, organizations, individuals and directly local leaders to use in building and implementing policies to promote local socio-economic development based on science, technology and innovation.

Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat speaks at the press conference.

“The Ministry of Science and Technology also believes that this will be a useful reference document for investors on the investment environment and resource conditions for production and business activities in localities,” Minister Huynh Thanh Dat emphasized.

In the coming years, the Ministry of Science and Technology hopes to continue to receive the attention, support and coordination of ministries, branches, agencies, localities and international organizations so that the Ministry can continue to perfect and deploy the annual local innovation index as assigned by the Government in Resolution No. 02/NQ-CP dated January 5, 2024 on key tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness in 2024.

(From left) Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Hoang Giang and Hoang Minh at the press conference.

At the press conference, the ceremony to announce the 2023 local innovation index also took place. At the same time, the 10 localities with the highest PII index in the country, the top localities with high PII index by socio-economic region and the PII page were announced.

Leaders of the Ministry of Science and Technology performed the ceremony to announce the results of the PII index.

Specifically, in the top 10 localities, Hanoi is the locality with the highest PII score, reaching 62.86 points, ranked 1st. Following are Ho Chi Minh City (ranked 2nd), Hai Phong (ranked 3rd), Da Nang (ranked 4th), Can Tho (ranked 5th), Bac Ninh (ranked 6th), Ba Ria-Vung Tau (ranked 7th), Binh Duong (ranked 8th), Quang Ninh (ranked 9th) and Thai Nguyen (ranked 10th).

Answering reporters' questions at the press conference regarding the leading localities in the PII index, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Minh said that the localities in the leading group are those with favorable natural and geographical conditions, with industry - construction and services accounting for a high proportion in the economic structure, many industrial parks, developed infrastructure, and strong science - technology and innovation activities.

Meanwhile, the last group includes localities with limitations in socio-economic development, geographical location and natural conditions that are not favorable for the development and application of science and technology and innovation in socio-economic development. Typical examples are localities in the Central Highlands, midlands and mountainous areas of the North.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Minh answered reporters' questions at the press conference.

Since 2017, the Global Innovation Index (commonly referred to as GII) published annually by the World Intellectual Property Organization has been used by the Government as an important tool for consulting, developing and promulgating policies to promote innovation in Vietnam.

At the local level, in Resolution No. 12/NQ-CP dated January 30, 2022, the Government assigned the Ministry of Science and Technology to "preside over and coordinate with the World Intellectual Property Organization and relevant agencies to develop a local-level Innovation Index and organize pilot assessments in a number of localities to measure the innovation capacity and innovation results of each locality, in sync with Vietnam's global Innovation Index".

To carry out the assigned tasks, the Ministry of Science and Technology has coordinated with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and relevant agencies to develop a set of indicators and successfully pilot them in 20 localities in 2022.

On that basis, in Resolution No. 10/NQ-CP dated February 3, 2022, the Government assigned the Ministry of Science and Technology to "officially deploy the Local Innovation Index nationwide from 2023".

Carrying out the tasks assigned by the Government, the Ministry of Science and Technology has researched and consulted with ministries, agencies, localities and experts to complete the Local Innovation Index Set for 2023 and has organized its implementation nationwide.

In December 2023, independent international experts conducted an assessment of the methods, data, techniques, and calculation models of Vietnam's 2023 PII index set and released an Assessment Report.

This expert was introduced by WIPO and also conducted an assessment of the PII pilot index set in 2022. The expert's assessment results showed that the PII index set 2023 meets international quality standards in terms of statistics and methodology.

The calculation process has clear steps and closely follows the GII process, based on best practices adopted by the European Commission, the United Nations and several other international organizations.

In the Evaluation Report, the expert stated that changes in the component index and index structure are normal after testing and after receiving feedback on the first published version, and at the same time, the expert recommended that in subsequent updates, only small changes should be made at each time to ensure consistency between years and help avoid confusion.

Experts also recommend publishing data on pillars, index groups and component indices along with the overall score of the index set, and encouraging users and stakeholders to delve deeper into the data.

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