This is the first time Vietnam has conducted research to build an industry innovation index. Vietnam is also the first country in Southeast Asia to conduct comprehensive research on this index.

Necessary tools to promote socio-economic development

According to Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Minh, to bring science, technology and innovation into socio-economic development, countries use three innovation models: national level, local level and industry level.

Vietnam has implemented the national Global Innovation Index (GII) for the past 8 years and has risen 30 places, continuously maintaining the first and second positions in the group of lower-middle-income countries, second only to India in the last two years. The Ministry of Science and Technology has also developed the Local Innovation Index (PII). Accordingly, Vietnam is the 4th country to implement this index.

Deputy Minister Hoang Minh said that building an industry innovation index is very necessary because this index will be directly linked to socio-economic development, and is an effective and practical tool for managers, policy makers, and businesses.

Through the index, we will be able to assess the capacity and innovation status of industries and fields, especially important economic sectors, even those that are highly competitive or at risk of difficulty in development, so that the Government as well as industries and localities can have policies to adjust and measures to improve productivity and enhance competitiveness.

This will also be the basis for domestic and foreign investors to plan their investment strategies and solutions when choosing investment sectors.

With that meaning and importance, the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology highly appreciated VinUni University's cooperation with domestic and foreign organizations to build a set of industry innovation indexes. The Department of Technology Application and Development will provide technical support as well as issues related to innovation management of agencies and units.

“ I believe that with the support of experts and international organizations, with the potential and role of VinUni as well as partners, the program and the set of industry innovation indexes will soon achieve results and be implemented in practice. Thereby providing useful tools for state management agencies, businesses, and industries to promote the improvement of competitiveness for industries, ” said Deputy Minister Hoang Minh.

First time in Vietnam and Southeast Asia

Dr. Le Mai Lan, Chairwoman of VinUni University Council, said that the Industry VIII Innovation Index is one of VinUni's ambitious and dedicated initiatives to realize its mission of creating change.

This idea of ​​VinUni has received the support of Professor Soumitra Dutta, Dean of Saïd Business School, Oxford University (UK), father of the Global Innovation Index (GII), and member of the VinFuture Prize Council.

Therefore, VinUni and the Portulans Institute (founded and chaired by Professor Soumitra Dutta) have collaborated to implement the Vietnam Industry Innovation Research (VIIR) Project to provide a comprehensive understanding of innovation in Vietnam's industrial sector.

Sharing about the cooperation with VinUni in this project, Professor Soumitra Dutta affirmed that Vietnam has a good brand from abroad. The world highly appreciates the hard-working culture of the people and the dynamic development of the Vietnamese economy.

Vietnam has vigorously applied the global innovation index, especially building a provincial innovation index. On this basis, it is necessary to pay more attention to industry-level innovation in a market-focused direction.

“ This is one of the prerequisites for the breakthrough development of the national economy, if innovation and science and technology are considered the spearhead ,” said Professor Dutta.

Sharing more about the project to build an industry innovation index, Associate Professor, Dr. Phan Thi Thuc Anh, Director of the Innovation Center and Head of the VIIR Research Group of VinUni, said that the project implements a two-layer analysis approach. The first layer is the factors that affect all industries in a country. The second layer is the factors that are specific to each industry.

The classes use two sets of indicators according to two pillars: Production (input) indicators and Innovation (output) indicators. In which, input indicators are factors that create potential for innovation, output indicators are the results of innovation's impact on the environment and society.

“ The indexes help us understand the content and driving force of innovation in each industry in a specific and clear way instead of just grasping it in general,” said Ms. Thuc Anh.

According to Ms. Thuc Anh, currently in Southeast Asia, no country has built a comprehensive industry innovation index using this method. Because this is a very new research, although the project has been implemented at VinUni for a year, there has been a pre-feasibility study report that has received positive support, the research will take about another year.

According to Ms. Thuc Anh, this is a very important stage, which needs to be implemented in a more detailed and systematic manner. Besides, it also takes time for the index set to continue to be completed as well as to be recognized and widely applied.

“ Professor Dutta said that even the global innovation index takes 3-5 years to be widely recognized, so we also anticipated this. With the guidance and professional sponsorship of the Ministry of Science and Technology as well as the technical support of Oxford University and the Portulans Institute, I believe the project will meet the expectations set by the Ministry of Science and Technology as well as VinUni University and the research team ,” said Ms. Thuc Anh.

Bao Anh