HCMCity (VNA) – All enterprises, including small- and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs) are responsible for developing and applying technology, andthe business circle must be the centre of innovation, heard an internationalseminar in Ho Chi Minh City on December 1.

Thereare about 535,000 SMEs in Vietnam at present, accounting for 97 percent of thetotal business number. They contribute some 45 percent of the national GDP, 31percent of total State budget revenue, and 35 percent of the business circle’stotal investment capital.

PhamNgoc Minh, an official at the Ministry of Science and Technology, said therapid development of science and technology is shortening the “life cycle” oftechnology. Therefore, it is an urgent need for enterprises to innovatetechnology in order to meet production and market demand and ensure theircompetitiveness.

HCMCity has continually taken the lead in Vietnam in terms of export value and GDP.It is also known as a sci-tech hub in the country.

However,51 percent of the 700 surveyed companies based in 12 industrial parks andexport processing zones in HCM City still use outdated technologies, accordingto the municipal Department of Science and Technology.

TranQuang Thang from the Association of SMEs in the South said technological andtechnical obsolescence has resulted products of low value and inconsistentquality products while production costs are 10-30 percent higher than that ofimports.

Totalsocial investment in science and technology remains low, and up to two-thirdsof that sum is from the State budget. In developed countries, the non-Statesector’s investment in science and technology is usually higher than the Statebudget’s.

Vietnamesecompanies’ demand for sci-tech innovation is also not strong enough, Thangsaid, adding that it is necessary to encourage private firms to establish orcooperate with the State to set up venture capital funds for technologyresearch and development.

Inthe Republic of Korea (RoK), big businesses and groups are ready to invest inscience-technology, and they make up 70 percent of the total funding forscience-technology each year. Instead of supporting big companies, the RoK is nowprioritising assistance for SMEs in the application of new technologies.

ParkJun Ho, Director of the HCM City office of the Korea Institute of IndustrialTechnology (Kitech), said Kitech has many projects supporting businesses,especially SMEs, to develop technology.

Manyresearch institutes of Vietnam are working with Kitech, and through thiscooperation, Kitech can help local enterprises innovate and transfer technologywhile improving their competitiveness, he noted.-VNA