SGGP
With Vietnam and the United States upgrading their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the important results achieved after Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to the United States, many opportunities have opened up to attract high-quality foreign investment, especially in the fields of innovation and high technology. SGGP reporters had an interview with Mr. Vu Quoc Huy, Director of the National Innovation Center (NIC) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, about these cooperation opportunities.
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| Production activities at UMC Electronics Vietnam Co., Ltd. (FDI enterprise in Tan Truong Industrial Park, Cam Giang District, Hai Duong Province). Photo: QUANG PHUC |
- REPORTER: Sir, during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's recent working trip to the United States, Vietnamese authorities, including NIC, signed cooperation agreements with a number of US corporations on promoting design capacity, product development and training of human resources for semiconductor chip production, and developing human resources for the semiconductor industry. Could you please elaborate on the contents of the cooperation agreements just signed?
* Mr. VU QUOC HUY: Recently, with the witness of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung within the framework of the visit to the United States, NIC signed 3 very meaningful memorandums of understanding with US partners.
The first is a memorandum of understanding between NIC and Synopsys to support the development of a chip design incubator center.
The second agreement is with Cadence Design Systems (Nasdaq: CDNS) to promote the semiconductor and electronics industry in Vietnam. Through this partnership, NIC will provide Vietnamese universities, training centers and startups with the technology and training needed to design and develop products for the semiconductor industry.
Third, through an agreement with Arizona State University (ASU), we will cooperate with Vietnamese research institutes or other educational institutions to develop training programs, research exchanges related to semiconductors and related fields; seek and exploit appropriate funding sources to develop workforce capacity in the semiconductor field.
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| Director of National Innovation Center Vu Quoc Huy |
- Vietnam and the United States have upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. With many recent moves, including the cooperation agreements that NIC has just signed, what do you think about the potential to attract investment from the world's largest economy?
* In the past 3 years, the United States, with a market share of 17%, has replaced the ASEAN region (14%) to become the largest FDI investor in the region. A large part of FDI from this country flows into advanced manufacturing. The upgrading of relations between Vietnam and the United States to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership opens up strategic opportunities for Vietnam. The presence of high-tech "eagles" will attract satellite businesses, thereby forming and expanding the technology ecosystem, creating a spillover effect.
However, it should be added that not only do we have US partners, NIC also has a large system of partners from foreign countries such as Japan, Korea and European countries, so during our operations, we have accumulated experience and exploited their strengths in technology and management.
- What is the role of NIC in supporting business innovation?
* NIC is a unit under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, established in 2019 with the function of supporting and developing the startup and innovation ecosystem in Vietnam, contributing to the innovation of the growth model based on science and technology. The center is built with the most advanced models and practices, suitable for the context of Vietnam, with specific, superior and competitive mechanisms and policies compared to the region and the world.
This coming October, we will inaugurate NIC's new operating facility at Hoa Lac High-Tech Park. NIC Hoa Lac covers an area of nearly 5 hectares, with 2 working buildings with 6 floors each. We will build research rooms, laboratories, and especially a chip design incubation center with advanced technologies from major partners. Enterprises and partners working here, participating in NIC's innovation ecosystem will enjoy many preferential policies on tax, land, visas, etc.
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| Production activities at UMC Electronics Vietnam Co., Ltd. (an FDI enterprise in Tan Truong Industrial Park, Cam Giang District, Hai Duong Province). Photo: QUANG PHUC |
- Upgrading relations with the United States opens up many opportunities for cooperation to develop the economy. However, in order for such cooperation to be effective, what policies do you think are needed and how does NIC define its role?
* In recent times, the Government as well as ministries and branches have paid great attention and given strong direction in promoting innovation and creative startups. The policy mechanism for innovation has also been reflected in a number of legal documents such as: Investment Law, Law on Support for Small and Medium Enterprises, Decree 94 on policy mechanism to support NIC. However, I think it is necessary to continue to remove some difficulties related to mobilizing venture capital and community investment capital for innovation activities.
In particular, it is necessary to remove mechanisms and bottlenecks in the business investment environment and legal framework for venture investment activities in Vietnam, thereby encouraging venture capital funds to invest in businesses, startup projects, and innovative startup projects.
In addition, it is developing human resources for innovation in general as well as human resources for some key industries and fields in particular. In the past, NIC has implemented many human resource development programs, coordinated with major partners such as Google, Meta... to implement activities to promote human resources, improve the capacity of workers and students in innovation. We also determined that in the coming time, we will further promote activities and develop human resources in key fields that Vietnam has not yet trained in depth, such as the semiconductor industry.
In general, it is necessary to develop more organizations and centers to support innovation activities. Besides NIC, businesses and localities should also build and develop similar models to create a wave and spread the spirit of innovation.
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