To make science, technology and innovation truly become the driving force for sustainable development

Strengthening potential, promoting the application of science, technology and innovation (S&I) in production and life; developing a sufficient number of S&T staff, ensuring quality... are important decisions of the Party Committee and government, on that basis, making S&T a key driving force for rapid and sustainable development; creating breakthroughs to improve productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy.

To make science, technology and innovation truly become the driving force for sustainable development Investing in equipment, machinery, and developing nuclear medicine techniques in the treatment of cancer patients at Thanh Hoa Oncology Hospital.

The Resolution of the 19th Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Congress, term 2020-2025, affirmed: "Research, apply and transfer science and technology; proactively and actively participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution to serve rapid and sustainable socio-economic development" and considered this as one of the three breakthroughs. On this basis, all levels and sectors have concretized it into many programs and plans; in which, focusing on promoting the application of science - technology and technology in production in all fields to increase product value and increase income for people. Many agencies, units and enterprises in the province have included the criteria on the application of science and technology in production and business associated with environmental protection as criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of leadership, direction and operation of leaders at all levels and sectors every year. Thanks to that, science and technology activities in the province have had positive changes, many scientific and technological advances have been widely applied in all fields. Typically, to promote the development of agricultural production, localities in the province have formed a science, technology and innovation ecosystem with a system of institutes, schools, start-up investment funds, and a network of start-up enterprises in agriculture. Along with that, scientific research activities in the fields of agriculture and high-tech agriculture are increasingly invested in more deeply. As a result, there have been many models of applying agriculture 4.0, such as models: growing hydroponic vegetables using Israeli technology; applying drip irrigation technology and cloud computing; controlling irrigation and spraying pesticides automatically on rice and fruit orchards; sensors to control the environment of livestock barns; sensors for aquaculture environments... helping to save costs, increase productivity, reduce prices and improve the quality of agricultural products, and protect the environment. Currently, many localities, organizations and individuals have chosen high-tech agriculture, clean agriculture associated with biotechnology, greenhouses, drip irrigation, sensors, automation... as the main direction for investment. From there, taking advantage of and promoting advantages, creating quality agricultural products, contributing to improving the efficiency of agricultural production.

In the fields of health, industry, information technology application, social sciences and humanities and environmental protection; the movement to promote initiatives, technical improvements and start-ups of the people in the province has also been promoted and brought about practical results, contributing to socio-economic development. Science and technology information activities and the application and transfer of scientific and technical advances have met the practical requirements of socio-economic development, creating conditions for producers to access technical advances in production. Actively implementing the creation, management and promotion of brands for organizations and individuals to build and develop brands, enhance competitiveness and develop export markets.

Along with that, the system of public science and technology organizations has been arranged; facilities and equipment have been strengthened, especially research and application centers in the agricultural sector. Science and technology human resources have increased in both quantity and quality; the whole province currently has over 3,100 staff participating in scientific research, an increase of 8% compared to 2015; a number of science and technology expert groups have been formed in the fields of agriculture, health and information technology. In the period of 2012-2022, there were over 370 scientific research works and articles published in international journals; 4 inventions were granted protection certificates by the Department of Intellectual Property. The whole province currently has 32 science and technology enterprises, ranking 3rd in the country (after Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi). In addition, the province has built a database on science and technology transfer to serve the work of consulting, evaluating and developing the technology market; Organize evaluation, acceptance, and recognition of scientific and technological research results not using the State budget to support units and enterprises to commercialize self-researched scientific and technological products; support scientific and technological enterprises to participate in the Technology and Equipment Market (TechMart), the Innovation and Startup Festival (Techfest), the demonstration of connecting technology supply and demand (Techdemo); access to the National Technology Innovation Fund...

However, in addition to the achieved results, there are still limitations and weaknesses such as: Awareness of all levels, sectors and localities on the role of science and technology and innovation is still inadequate and not comprehensive; science and technology activities have not really become a driving force in socio-economic development in the province; technological innovation activities in enterprises are still slow; high-tech products and high-tech application products are still limited. Technical facilities and equipment serving science and technology and innovation activities have not met the requirements; the application of digital transformation and digitalization in business administration has not been promoted.

To promote the role of science, technology and innovation to serve the socio-economic development of the province, on November 25, 2020, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 5060/QD-UBND approving the Project "Development of science, technology and innovation in Thanh Hoa province, period 2021-2025". With the viewpoint that science, technology and innovation activities must be promoted at all levels, sectors and localities, in which business organizations and cooperatives are innovation centers, and science and technology organizations are the main research subjects. Prioritize and concentrate all resources for the development of science, technology and innovation. Focus State investment on key and priority areas; at the same time, promote socialization of science, technology and innovation activities; maximize and effectively exploit social resources invested in science, technology and innovation to meet the requirements of the digital age. Also according to the project, by 2025, advanced and modern technologies, key technologies of the 4.0 revolution will be applied and developed to create new, highly competitive products for the province's key industries.

To realize the above goal, the province has been focusing on implementing science and technology tasks, such as supporting digital transformation for large-scale industrial factories towards smart factories. Supporting enterprises and establishments producing agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the province to deploy software to manage the supply chain of safe food products and integrate information into QR Codes for traceability. Supporting the construction of smart hospitals; supporting grassroots medical facilities to build electronic health records management systems. Completing the construction of the Center for Operation, Monitoring of Network Safety and Security; Center for Smart Urban Operations; Developing logistics services, infrastructure for science and technology, education and training, culture, sports and tourism... Promoting research, application and transfer of scientific and technical advances in diagnosis and treatment, focusing on medical services with high intellectual content and development potential in the fields of testing, diagnosis and surgical treatment. Building an electronic health record management system, ensuring that each citizen has an electronic health record stored in the national electronic health record system; implementing the project of renting medical image archiving and transmission systems (PACS) at public hospitals... Researching issues related to consolidating and building the political system, innovating the Party's leadership methods, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of State management; innovating management mechanisms; administrative reform; building creative and serving governments at all levels; Review and perfect mechanisms and policies to facilitate proactive participation in the 4.0 industrial revolution and the province's digital transformation process...

It can be said that the activities of science, technology and innovation in the province in recent times have had many positive changes, creating a good foundation, being the driving force for socio-economic growth, maintaining national security and defense. Initially realizing the meaning, importance and paying attention to creating, establishing, protecting, exploiting, developing, respecting and protecting intellectual property rights, promoting the movement of creative labor competition, creating a spread of innovative startups in organizations and individuals in the province.

Article and photos: Tran Hang

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