Mastering strategic technology helps the country escape the middle-income trap

Dan Tri newspaper reporter had a talk with Associate Professor, Dr. Ta Hai Tung, Principal of the School of Information and Communication Technology (Hanoi University of Science and Technology) about the story of Vietnam needing to take advantage of the world's technological quintessence to promote the development of science and technology.

At the same time, it highlights the key role of universities and research institutes in promoting science and technology development in Vietnam.

Sir, regarding Resolution 57 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science and technology development, General Secretary To Lam emphasized that Vietnam needs to "Stand on the shoulders of giants". From your perspective, how has Vietnam been implementing this strategy?

- In fact, Vietnam is a country that lags behind the world in the process of developing science and technology. This is understandable, because for a long time, the country was devastated by war and isolated. During that period, science and technology in the world had made breakthrough technological advances.

Over the past 20 years, Vietnam has integrated more strongly and deeply, participating in the global value chain and supply chain. At present, if we do not master strategic technology and core technology, the country's development will be affected and it will be difficult for us to escape the middle-income trap.

We need to take advantage of this opportunity when Vietnam is converging many attractive factors such as abundant labor resources in the golden population period, with many young people who are well-trained, have good skills, and are always eager for new things.

Associate Professor, Dr. Ta Hai Tung, Principal of School of Information and Communication Technology (Hanoi University of Science and Technology).

In particular, we need to take advantage of this opportunity when Vietnam is converging many attractive factors such as abundant labor resources in the golden population period, with many young people who are well-trained, have good skills, and are always eager for new things, as well as Vietnam is an attractive destination for investment from foreign corporations and businesses.

Therefore, "Standing on the shoulders of giants" is the right approach for Vietnam and for other countries that come after.

Vietnam needs to take advantage of the world's technological achievements, thereby quickly developing its own products to serve the socio-economy, people, and Government of Vietnam; at the same time, increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods in the international arena and confidently participate more deeply in the development of global science and technology.

Can you share some examples of "Standing on the shoulders of giants" that Vietnam can apply?

- A typical example is the field of artificial intelligence (AI). At the end of 2022, the whole world witnessed the explosion of generative AI (GenAI), typically ChatGPT of Open AI. This is considered a breakthrough in artificial intelligence, while also creating opportunities for later countries.

Because for GenAI, countries around the world are almost at the same starting line. Although countries like the US, China, the EU and some other countries have developed platform models at great cost, the whole world is starting together to develop their own products based on those resources.

This means that Vietnam is not too far behind the world, so we need to take advantage of these platform models (especially open source models) along with preparing Vietnamese datasets for training, thereby quickly developing applications to serve the people, businesses and society of Vietnam.

Following this roadmap, we will have rapid development in terms of research, development and especially application, and if we take advantage of young talents, eager to contribute, along with the very innovative policies and institutions of the State, Vietnam will rise in the story of "Standing on the shoulders of giants".

At the meeting of the Central Steering Committee on Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation, the General Secretary directed the urgent issuance of a list of strategic technologies. According to you, what types of strategic technologies does Vietnam need?

- In my opinion, strategic technology is technology that has the potential to contribute to the socio-economic development strategy and ensure national security and defense of each country.

Coming up with a list of these technologies requires in-depth, elaborate research, which must take into account traditional strengths, internal resources, and future potential, based on a deep understanding of the value chain, global supply chain, geopolitical risks, as well as future trends in science and technology development.

There are technologies that we need to master because they bring immediate commercial advantages, but there are also technologies that may not have a high commercial factor at the present time, but are part of the strategy to build a foundation for long-term development, as well as contribute to technological autonomy for the country, especially in the complicated world political situation.

Could you please evaluate the role of research institutes and universities in promoting research and application to develop science and technology in Vietnam today?

- I think this is similar to many other countries in the world. Universities and research institutes can be considered the core of the ecosystem for developing science, technology and innovation.

This is where leading experts with many years of research experience in different fields gather.

Associate Professor, Dr. Ta Hai Tung talks with Dan Tri newspaper reporter (Photo: Tuan Anh).

Another very important factor is the presence of a young talent pool consisting of students, graduate students and researchers. People of this age group, when pursuing the path of science and innovation, are capable of creating important breakthroughs.

When youth is promoted in combination with the experience and profound knowledge of lecturers and scientists, as well as the support of the science, technology and innovation ecosystem with the core being research funding funds, investment funds, and the business community, universities and research institutes will truly become the center of technological development and innovation.

Can you share some important solutions to promote and enhance the value of universities and research institutes in developing science and technology?

- To develop universities worthy of the position of Vietnam - a country with more than 100 million people - which is undergoing strong changes and gradually becoming an attractive destination for foreign investors, we have to do a lot of work.

In which I think the close cooperation between the State, businesses and universities is very important.

I appreciate recent institutional movements such as Resolution 57 of the Politburo or Resolution 193 of the National Assembly. These important Resolutions have brought new momentum and vitality to training, scientific research and innovation activities.

This clearly shows that the Party and State are determined to develop this field, typically increasing investment costs for scientific and technological research to at least 3% of total annual budget expenditure.

In addition, there are also very innovative policies such as accepting risks in scientific research, providing funding for scientific research according to the fund mechanism, exempting personal income tax for scientists conducting research topics, transferring assets that are the results of research topics to the host units...

Or strong investment in human resource training to develop science and technology in strategic fields - especially those fields that Vietnam must master to ensure sustainable socio-economic development and national security and defense.

In addition, the State also has many policies to support scientists in commercializing and forming businesses from research results, allowing them to operate businesses to benefit from their own research results; encouraging businesses to invest in research in science and technology such as tax exemptions and capital incentives.

We are having a very strong institutional movement, and I expect the results to be seen soon in the coming period.

Associate Professor, Dr. Ta Hai Tung, Principal of School of Information and Communication Technology (Hanoi University of Science and Technology).

It can be seen that we are having a very strong institutional movement, and I expect the results will be seen soon in the coming period.

In addition to the support of the State, the solution to promote and enhance the value of universities and research institutes in the development of science and technology also requires the close cooperation of businesses.

Enterprises are not only considered as places to absorb human resources output from universities and research output, but also play an important role in verifying the quality of training and research of universities.

Therefore, there needs to be close cooperation when businesses will put forward topics, human resource development requirements and science and technology requirements according to socio-economic development. And universities will have to meet those requirements.

Second, businesses should directly participate in the training and research process of universities, instead of just waiting to receive output or recruit graduates.

This cooperation brings practical benefits to the businesses themselves, helping them to have high-quality human resources according to their needs through joint support in building training programs, directly participating in training, especially in supporting internship programs, business experiences, investing in facilities, laboratories, as well as sponsoring research scholarships for students.

Enterprises that are at the forefront of research cooperation with universities also have the opportunity to master strategic and core technologies, thereby creating new products and enhancing their competitiveness in the market.

Finally, in my opinion, universities themselves need to innovate to adapt to development trends.

In the atmosphere of university autonomy, universities have become much more active, which has brought positive results in recent years.

The current training of schools and research institutes has become much closer to the market; as well as the research that is bringing good results, many works of scientists have been published in prestigious international journals.

I think this is just the starting stage for us to prepare for a new development cycle in which universities must optimize their governance models, refine their training programs, focus on improving research quality, and especially attract talent.

Including international scientists and overseas Vietnamese to quickly upgrade to meet the needs of socio-economic development, ensuring proactive and effective integration, in line with the rising position of a country of more than 100 million people.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang drink beer in Hanoi on December 5, 2024. Mr. Huang signed an agreement with the Government to build an artificial intelligence center in Vietnam (Photo: Manh Quan).

Universities need to effectively exploit the open and flexible policies of the Party and State; proactively propose and test new, innovative models that comply with international standards, with special attention paid to business cooperation and international cooperation in both training and research.

The current opportunity is ripe when the position and strength of the country in general and the university education system in particular are on the rise, Vietnam is becoming an attractive destination for foreign investment. Therefore, if we exploit the organic relationship between the State, businesses and universities, I firmly believe that we will create a new, breakthrough development step for the entire ecosystem of science, technology and innovation development in Vietnam.

At the School of Information and Communication Technology, what research cooperation is there with international organizations or businesses in the field of training and research, sir?

- For Hanoi University of Science and Technology in general and the School of Information and Communication Technology in particular, we always consider business cooperation an essential part in the school's development.

Mentioning Hanoi University of Science and Technology is mentioning a university of engineering and technology closely linked to industry. This is the tradition that we have maintained for nearly 70 years.

Up to now, the school has had many important cooperations, bringing products serving socio-economic development as well as contributing to the struggle for national liberation.

Continuing that tradition, each unit in the University is always conscious of further promoting cooperation with businesses to get closer to industry and production practices. For the School of Information and Communication Technology alone, we currently maintain a network of more than 300 businesses accompanying the school.

Businesses support us in many activities: from training program development, training support, scholarships, graduation co-mentoring, to research cooperation and community activities. The most important activity is supporting students in internships according to the training program.

During this time, students are exposed to real-life "problems", directly participate in projects and experience a professional working environment. This is very important, helping students gain real-life experiences, practice the knowledge they have learned in product development projects, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of the profession, ensuring they are ready to enter the labor market immediately after graduation.

After the internship, the company also participates in evaluating the students' abilities as well as providing feedback to improve the school's training quality.

Students of the School of Information and Communications Technology, along with the School's Board of Directors and Naver Group (Korea) participated in a workshop on AI (Photo: Tuan Anh).

Thanks to this close cooperation, the school's training program is constantly updated and well-regarded by businesses to meet the needs of the current labor market. Many businesses are willing to recruit students from the third year, even when they are more than a year away from graduation.

In addition, we also have many research collaborations with large domestic and foreign corporations, small and medium enterprises as well as startups. These are units that are thirsty for innovation and high-quality human resources. For example, the school has cooperated with the Korean NAVER Corporation to develop advanced technologies in the field of artificial intelligence.

Overall, these collaborations bring two important benefits. First, they contribute to improving the quality of training and providing valuable practical experience for students - something that the academic environment in universities can hardly provide fully.

Second, creating a bridge between academic research and the practical needs of businesses, helping research projects to be immediately applied to production and business in accordance with market and business needs.

At the school, all research centers and laboratories of the school are sponsored by enterprises according to the mixed cooperation model "joint center", "joint lab", according to which each side will send an officer to participate as co-Director of the center or co-Head of the Laboratory.

This helps both sides work closely together. The first part of the paper will go straight to this side and vice versa, the research results of this side will go straight to the other side, helping to shorten the gap between theory and practice.

In addition, students participating in these mixed research centers and laboratories will be able to research problems that businesses really need, so after graduation, they can be recruited into businesses immediately without having to go through a probationary period.

Currently, the school is continuing to expand cooperation to bring more opportunities for students and lecturers.

Thank you, Associate Professor, for taking the time to chat!

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/lam-chu-cong-nghe-chien-luoc-giup-dat-nuoc-thoat-bay-thu-nhap-trung-binh-20250325190040027.htm