On the morning of March 20, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung chaired a state management conference in both direct and online formats. Also attending the conference were Deputy Ministers Bui The Duy, Pham Duc Long, Hoang Minh, Bui Hoang Phuong and heads of agencies and units under the Ministry.

Early development of guidelines for using AI in state agencies

The main content of the conference is the issue of completing on time and ensuring the quality of assigned tasks of units under the Ministry.

According to the report of the Ministry Office, there are currently 5 units that have completed their tasks on time, including the Department of Telecommunications, the Department of International Cooperation, the Department of Digital Economy and Society, the Ministry Inspectorate, and the Ministry Office. The situation of overdue task implementation still occurs in some units.

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Minister Nguyen Manh Hung chaired the State management conference on the morning of March 20. Photo: Le Anh Dung

To rectify this work, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized: "Whether an agency or unit completes its work well and on time or not is basically up to the leader. If the work is slow or poor, it is the leader's fault. Any issues related to the unit must be the individual leader's responsibility."

One of the solutions to overcome the problem of "overdue tasks" is to use AI virtual assistants. However, there is currently no guidance document on the application of AI in the operations of state agencies. Minister Nguyen Manh Hung directed that this guidance document must be developed soon, and at the same time, assigned the IT Center to find units to order research on AI tools, solving the problem of paperwork overload, with the goal of reducing about 30% of the workload at the units.

In addition, to effectively handle the work, the Minister emphasized the importance of decentralizing responsibilities downwards. Accordingly, department heads need to assign tasks to key personnel in the agency, take advantage of support tools and promptly report difficult issues to the Ministry's leaders for timely resolution and removal. The goal is to ensure that work is carried out smoothly and effectively.

The above work becomes even more important in the context of implementing Resolution 57 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation and Resolution 193 of the National Assembly regulating the piloting of a number of special mechanisms and policies to create breakthroughs for this cause.

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Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung. Photo: Le Anh Dung

Research on reducing patenting time

Giving quick instructions at the conference, the Minister requested the National Committee for Standards, Metrology and Quality to quickly issue a strategy, reducing the time to approve a standard from 2 years to 12 months. In the field of intellectual property, the Minister assigned the Intellectual Property Office to soon reduce the time to grant a patent from 2 years to 18 months.

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Mr. Luu Hoang Long, Director of the Department of Intellectual Property. Photo: Le Anh Dung

In fact, the time to grant a patent in Vietnam usually lasts about 2 years or more, depending on many factors such as the complexity of the invention, the quality of the application as well as the workload of the patent granting unit.

Vietnam is in the group with average patent granting time. Patent granting time in Vietnam is currently slower than some developed countries in the region such as Korea (12-18 months), Japan (12-18 months), China (12-24 months), etc.

From the experience of countries such as Korea, Japan, and Australia, if Vietnam can apply priority mechanisms and AI to support the examination, the patent granting period can be shortened, thereby contributing to accelerating economic innovation.

There is currently no specific research that directly determines the relationship between patenting time and the level of economic development of countries. However, developed countries often have effective intellectual property systems, with fast patenting times, supporting businesses to protect and exploit intellectual property. Conversely, long patenting times can affect the motivation for innovation and economic growth.

In 2024, the Intellectual Property Office received 151,489 applications of all kinds (up 2.2% compared to 2023), processed 140,497 applications (up 17.5%). The Office granted 51,437 industrial property protection certificates of all kinds (up 46%).
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