During a government meeting on developing the national innovation ecosystem, held in Hanoi on October 14, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung requested ministries to remove institutional execution bottlenecks, align technology supply and demand, and increase demand-driven research orders from businesses to turn science, technology, and innovation into a tangible economic growth engine.
According to the Global Innovation Index 2026, Vietnam’s national innovation ecosystem ranked 43rd out of 139 economies, up one spot from 2025. The country’s innovation output index moved up two places to 35th globally. Within ASEAN, Vietnam ranks third, behind Singapore and Malaysia, and is recognized as one of seven middle-income countries demonstrating the fastest ranking improvements since 2013.
However, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Minh noted that several indicators show unsustainable improvements and remain below expectations, particularly regulatory quality and enforcement efficiency.
The challenge lies not only in regulatory quality but also in execution efficiency, governance stability, and the ability to foster a favorable environment for entrepreneurship and innovation, he noted.
He highlighted that while top-ranking countries spend approximately 1.5-2 percent of GDP on research and development (R&D) - with some allocating up to 4 percent - Vietnam’s R&D expenditure currently stands at around 0.55 percent of GDP.
Indicators related to education and higher education also remain modest, marked by a shortage of high-quality human resources for priority industries.
Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Quang Hung informed that while the ministry has established 13 Industry 4.0 science and technology networks involving 300 enterprises, cooperation remains largely focused on training rather than converting research outcomes into commercial products.
The primary bottleneck is that research results have not been converted into market-ready products to contribute directly to the economy, Mr. Hung emphasized. University-enterprise collaboration focuses heavily on training, while product-generating partnerships account for a very small share. Research results at universities mostly remain at the laboratory scale, with limited practical transfer and exploitation capabilities, requiring active state support.
Associating that science and technology revenue accounts for only 15 percent of total university income, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hieu, Permanent Vice President of Vietnam National University, Hanoi, stressed that training human resources for innovation must be treated as a core value of the innovation ecosystem.
The bottleneck extends beyond high-quality human resources to a lack of integration among training, research, and corporate innovation needs. Universities conduct research and training without necessarily accessing current corporate technology demands, while many businesses seeking technological innovation lack the capacity to establish collaborative partnerships.
Furthermore, market development maturity remains an underemphasized element within the innovation ecosystem, with venture capital activity remaining modest. While enterprises serve as the ecosystem’s center, their capacity to absorb, master, and internalize external technology remains a challenge. Intellectual and technological outputs, which reflect intermediate results of the national innovation ecosystem, have not matched overall output performance.
Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung emphasized that innovation must drive economic growth, create new productivity and value, improve governance, and help businesses integrate into global value chains through an enterprise-centered approach.
He directed the Ministry of Science and Technology to coordinate with relevant ministries to urgently resolve institutional hurdles across tax, investment, finance, intellectual property, and technology transfer. The government will also consider issuing a decree on product commercialization and tech exchange platforms, alongside policies driving technology supply and demand based on corporate needs.
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