Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam⛎ has issued major guidelines, policies and orientations to develop innovation and startups, as the Party and State always consider science-technology and innovation as a “strategic breakthrough” and a “main driving force” to create improvements in productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy.

Over the past time, Vietnam's innovation activities have achieved many remarkable results. The country has continuously climbed up the Global Innovation Index (GII) from the 59th position in 2016 to the 46th in 2023, making it rank fourth in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Vietnam has always maintained the second position in the group of lower middle-income countries and is one of the seven middle-income countries that have achieved the most progress in innovation over the past decade. On March 12, 2024, for the first time, the Ministry of Science and Technology released the Provincial Innovation Index (PII). The 2023 index provided the grounds and evidence on strengths, weaknesses, potential and necessary conditions for the country to promote socioeconomic development based on science, technology and innovation of each locality. The Government has also had many investment solutions to improve innovation indicators, including building a national innovation system that gathers experts and scientists, developing policies to encourage innovation, especially in businesses, and setting up the National Startup Support Centre. To date, framework conditions serving the development of the national innovation system have been formed such as policies to ensure intellectual property rights, and innovation of scientific and technological activities, simplifying administrative procedures, implementing support funds, and strengthening the linkages between scientific research and production and business. National innovation and startup support centres are being formed in Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and other localities, while innovation and startup centres have been set up in over 20 localities to connect local, regional and national resources. As a result, enterprises are becoming more aware of the importance of innovation activities, putting this content at the centre of their production and business activities. Last year, Vietnam was estimated to have about 3,800 innovative startups, of which 11 are valued at more than 100 million USD, together with 208 investment funds, 84 incubators, and 35 business promotion organisations. The country also ranked third in ASEAN in terms of investment in innovation and startups, after Indonesia and Singapore./.