Hanoi (VNA) – The National Innovation Centre (NIC) is a hallmark inthe national strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.

Meeting with representatives of competent ministries, sectors, and foreignconsultants to discuss the establishment of the NIC in Hanoi on March 4, PMPhuc laid stress on the necessity of the centre, saying that it will providegrounds for Vietnam to take further steps into the Industry 4.0 era as it will studythe application of advanced technologies in Vietnam based on internationalexperience.

The government will do its utmost to support the NIC to bolster innovation inthe country, he affirmed, underlining that “the centre must converge andconnect talents, as well as promote the start-up ecosystem”.

Last year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) was entrusted by the PrimeMinister to outline the NIC establishment project, which is said to be asolution to carrying out the national strategy on economic reform and growthmodel renovation, creating the premise for Vietnam to achieve sustainableeconomic growth and become a country with a high average income.

At the event, experts said that besides attracting high-quality human resourcesfor the centre, the government should create favourable conditions forinvestors in terms of land use tax, administrative procedures, and granting intellectualproperty rights, among others.

If this model is successfully piloted, other centres should be set upnationwide, they recommended.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese ministries and sectors said that the government should takethe lead in using innovative products created by the centre to increase itsoperational efficiency.

The NIC is a part of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s VietnamInnovation Network initiative launched in August 2018.  According to theproject’s draft plan drawn up by the MPI’s Central Institute for EconomicManagement (CIEM), the NIC will be developed on an area of 23 ha in Hoa LacHi-Tech Park with total investment of 1.9 trillion VND (82.6 million USD),including 1.7 trillion VND (73.9 million USD) for the physical construction and200 billion VND (8.7 million USD) for operating capital.

The project, set to break ground later this year, will be developed withinthree years, and could be put into operation by 2020.

The NIC is expected tolure 40 big technology companies, 150 startups and small- and medium-sizedenterprises, and 15 venture investment funds, thereby creating more than 5,000jobs.

The NIC will focus on anumber of priority sectors to begin with, such as developing hardware andsoftware for smart factories and smart cities, digital content, and networksecurity.–VNA