Resolution 57-NQ/TW on Breakthrough Development of National Science, Technology, Innovation, and Digital Transformation

Developing science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation is currently a decisive factor for national development; it is the prerequisite and the best opportunity for our country to become prosperous and strong in the new era – the era of national awakening.

Over the past time, our Party and State have implemented many policies to promote the application and development of science and technology, stimulate innovation and digital transformation, actively participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, achieving many important results.

However, the speed and breakthrough in the development of national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation remain slow; the scale, capacity, and level of national science, technology, and innovation are still far behind the group of developed countries; the awareness of many levels, sectors, officials, civil servants, and citizens about digital transformation is not yet full and profound; research and application of science, technology, and innovation have not achieved breakthroughs, and strategic and core technologies are not yet mastered; the legal framework, mechanisms, and policies are insufficient; high-quality human resources are lacking; infrastructure is incomplete, especially digital infrastructure; information security, data protection, and cybersecurity face many challenges.

Our country is now facing the requirement to have strong, strategic, and revolutionary policies to create new momentum, breakthrough development in science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation, in order to make the country strongly developed in the new era – the era of prosperity and strength, successfully achieving the goal by 2030 of becoming a developing country with modern industry and high average income, and by 2045 becoming a developed, high-income country. Based on this situation, the Politburo requires thorough implementation of the following contents:

I- GUIDING PRINCIPLES

1. The development of national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation is the foremost breakthrough, the main driving force for rapid development of modern production forces, completion of production relations, innovation in national governance, socio-economic development, preventing backwardness, and achieving breakthrough and strong national development in the new era.

2. Strengthen comprehensive leadership of the Party, harness the combined strength of the entire political system, and actively engage entrepreneurs, businesses, and citizens in developing national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation. This is recognized as a profound, comprehensive revolution in all fields; implemented decisively, persistently, synchronously, consistently, and long-term with breakthrough and revolutionary solutions.

People and businesses are the center, main actors, resources, and driving forces; scientists are key factors; the State plays a leading role in promoting and creating the most favorable conditions for the development of national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

3. Institutions, human resources, infrastructure, data, and strategic technologies are the core focus, among which institutions are the prerequisite and must be perfected first. Innovate legal thinking to ensure management requirements while encouraging innovation, eliminating the mindset of “if it cannot be managed, it is forbidden.” Focus on ensuring high-level human resources for the development of national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation; have special mechanisms and policies for talents.

Develop infrastructure, especially digital and technological infrastructure, on the principles of “modern, synchronous, secure, safe, efficient, and avoiding waste”; enrich and fully exploit the potential of data, turning data into primary production resources, promoting rapid development of big databases, data industry, and data economy.

4. Develop rapidly and sustainably, gradually achieving self-reliance in technology, especially strategic technologies; prioritize national resources for investment in science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation. Maximize Vietnam’s potential and intellect by quickly absorbing, mastering, and applying advanced global scientific and technological achievements; promote applied research, emphasize basic research, and move towards autonomy and competitiveness in certain fields where Vietnam has demand, potential, and advantages.

5. Ensure national sovereignty in cyberspace; guarantee cybersecurity, data security, and information safety of organizations and individuals as an inseparable requirement in the process of developing national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

II- OBJECTIVES

1. By 2030

- Science, technology, and innovation capacity will reach advanced levels in many important fields, ranking among the leading countries with high middle income; enterprise technology and innovation levels will exceed the global average; some science and technology fields will reach international standards. Vietnam will be among the top three in Southeast Asia, among the top 50 countries in the world for digital competitiveness and e-Government development index; top three in Southeast Asia in artificial intelligence research, serving as development centers for some digital technology industries in which Vietnam has advantages. At least 5 digital technology enterprises will be on par with advanced countries.

- Contribution of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) to economic growth will be above 55%; the proportion of high-tech exports over total export value will reach at least 50%. The digital economy will account for at least 30% of GDP. The rate of citizens and businesses using online public services will exceed 80%; cashless transactions will reach 80%. At least 40% of enterprises will engage in innovation activities.

Science, technology, and innovation will contribute significantly to building and developing Vietnamese cultural, social, and human values, maintaining a Human Development Index (HDI) above 0.7.

- Expenditure on research and development (R&D) will reach 2% of GDP, with over 60% from the private sector; at least 3% of the total annual state budget will be allocated to developing national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation, increasing progressively. The system of scientific, technological, and innovative organizations will be rearranged to ensure efficiency and effectiveness, closely linking research – application – training.

Scientific, technological, and innovative human resources will reach 12 people per ten thousand population; 40–50 scientific and technological organizations will be ranked regionally and globally; international scientific publications will increase by 10% per year; patent applications will rise 16–18% per year, with commercialization rates at 8–10%.

- Advanced, modern digital infrastructure with ultra-large capacity and ultra-wide bandwidth will be on par with advanced countries; gradually master strategic and digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud computing, blockchain, semiconductors, quantum technology, nanotechnology, 5G, 6G mobile communication, satellite communication, and some emerging technologies. Nationwide 5G coverage.

Complete smart city construction for centrally-run cities and selected provinces and cities with conditions. Attract at least 3 top global technology organizations or enterprises to establish headquarters, invest in research and production in Vietnam.

- State management from central to local levels will operate digitally, fully connected among all agencies in the political system. Complete construction, connection, and sharing of national and sectoral databases; efficiently exploit and use digital resources, forming data marketplaces.

Develop digital government, digital economy, digital society, digital citizens, and digital cultural industry at high global standards. Vietnam will be among the leading countries in cybersecurity, data security, and data protection.

2. Vision to 2045

Science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation will develop sustainably, contributing to Vietnam becoming a developed, high-income country. Vietnam’s digital economy will account for at least 50% of GDP; become a regional and global digital technology industrial center; among the top 30 countries in innovation and digital transformation. The ratio of digital technology enterprises will be comparable to developed countries; at least 10 digital technology enterprises will match advanced countries. Attract at least 5 more top global technology organizations or enterprises to establish headquarters, invest in research and production in Vietnam.

III- TASKS AND SOLUTIONS

1. Raise awareness, breakthrough in mindset, determine strong political will, decisively lead and direct, create new momentum and spirit in society for national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation

- Party committees, organizations, cadres, and Party members must fully recognize the importance and thoroughly grasp the Party and State’s viewpoints, policies, and strategies on digital transformation, science, technology, and innovation, clearly identifying responsibilities and proactively implementing. Leaders must personally oversee and direct; cadres and Party members must set an example.

Digital transformation, science, technology, and innovation tasks are specified in annual programs and work plans of agencies, organizations, units, and localities; performance results serve as criteria for effectiveness, evaluation, and commendation.

Assign appropriately the number of technical and scientific staff within Party committees at all levels. Promote creativity, courage, and responsibility among cadres and Party members in developing science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

- Implement effective publicity and education programs to raise awareness and determination, promote science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation across the political system, citizens, and businesses, creating social confidence and new momentum. Widely implement the "digital learning" movement, popularize and enhance science, technology, and digital knowledge for cadres, civil servants, and citizens; promote startup, innovation, and efficiency improvement movements to foster self-reliance, confidence, independence, national pride, and Vietnamese intelligence to successfully achieve national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation objectives.

Expand diverse forms of recognition and timely commendation for scientists, inventors, enterprises, and individuals with achievements in science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation; respect every invention, technical improvement, and initiative, no matter how small.

2. Urgently and decisively complete the institutional framework; remove all mindsets, concepts, and barriers hindering development; turn the institutional framework into a competitive advantage for science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation

Continue to fully institutionalize and effectively implement the resolutions, directives, and conclusions of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, and the Secretariat regarding the development of education and training; science and technology; national innovation; and digital transformation. Focus on implementing the following contents:

- Urgently amend, supplement, and comprehensively complete legal regulations on science and technology, investment, public investment, public procurement, state budget, public assets, intellectual property, taxes, etc., to remove bottlenecks and barriers, release resources, encourage and develop science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation, and develop human resources; reform management and implementation methods for scientific and technological tasks appropriate to each type of research; reform financial management mechanisms in implementing science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation tasks; simplify administrative procedures to the maximum; grant autonomy in the use of research funding for scientific research and technology development.

- Adopt an open, creative approach, allowing pilot programs for new practical issues. Accept risks, venture investment, and delays in scientific research, technology development, and innovation.

- Establish pilot mechanisms for enterprises to test new technologies under state supervision; have policies exempting responsibility for enterprises, organizations, and individuals in cases of economic loss due to objective reasons when testing new technologies or business models. Establish venture funds for innovative startups, technology incubation, and digital transformation.

- Standardize and improve the efficiency of state management over science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation. Develop research institutes and universities into strong research entities, closely combining research, application, and training. Invest in and upgrade the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, and other national key research and innovation institutions. Merge or dissolve ineffective scientific and technological organizations.

- Establish mechanisms and policies to support and develop public scientific and technological research organizations to operate effectively; grant autonomy and accountability for organization, personnel, finance, and expertise; allow the use of state budget to hire experts, utilize tangible and intellectual assets to link and cooperate in science and technology with organizations and enterprises. Establish mechanisms to allow and encourage research organizations and scientists to establish and participate in managing enterprises based on research outcomes.

- Attract and effectively utilize all investment resources for national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation development. The state budget for research and scientific and technological development should prioritize implementation through fund mechanisms, via science and technology development funds. Restructure the budget for science and technology to ensure focus, priority, and avoid dispersion.

- Establish mechanisms to encourage public procurement of products and goods resulting from scientific research created by domestic enterprises. Establish special mechanisms for research, access, procurement of technological secrets, learning, and copying advanced foreign technologies.

3. Strengthen investment and improve infrastructure for national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation

- Issue programs for strategic technology and industry development; Strategic Industry Development Investment Funds (prioritizing national defense, space, energy, environment, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, advanced materials, semiconductors, quantum technology, robotics, and automation); establish pilot policy mechanisms to promote research, development, application, and technology transfer for strategic technologies. Allocate at least 15% of the state budget for scientific endeavors to serve strategic technology research; issue mechanisms and policies for public-private cooperation to research and develop strategic technologies.

- Issue research and application strategies for science and technology in exploiting and developing marine, underground, and outer space. Focus on developing energy infrastructure, especially new and clean energy, and ensure energy security for the development of science, technology, and strategic industries. Strictly manage, exploit, and efficiently utilize the country's mineral resources, especially rare earths, to develop science, technology, and innovation.

- Develop a system of key national research centers, testing facilities, and laboratories focused on strategic technologies. Establish mechanisms and policies to support and encourage organizations, individuals, and enterprises to invest in and build laboratories and research and development centers for science and technology.

- Promote the application and development of digital technologies. Issue policies to encourage investment, purchase, and lease of digital products and services; special policies for training, developing, and attracting domestic and foreign organizations, individuals, and enterprises in the field of digital transformation and development of digital technology products, and cyber security industries. Build and share national and regional digital platforms to ensure unified and interconnected operations of sectors and fields in the digital environment. Promote the digital economy ecosystem across fields.

- Establish public-private cooperation mechanisms to develop modern digital infrastructure, with state resources being the main source. Develop telecommunications and Internet infrastructure to meet requirements for backup, connection, security, and sustainability; satellite data transmission systems, high-speed fiber optic networks nationwide, mobile networks 5G, 6G, and future generations. Develop digital physical infrastructure and utility infrastructure; integrate sensors and digital technology applications into essential infrastructure. Develop the IoT industry and build some mobile IoT industrial clusters.

- Establish mechanisms and policies to support domestic enterprises investing in building data centers and cloud computing; attract foreign enterprises to place data centers and cloud computing in Vietnam. Develop storage and computing infrastructure meeting international and green standards. Complete and efficiently operate the National Data Center; invest in regional data centers. Build and effectively utilize national, ministerial, sectoral, and local data to ensure integration, connectivity, and sharing.

- Establish mechanisms and policies to ensure data becomes an important production resource. Establish ownership, commercial rights, and value distribution from data. Develop data economy, data markets, and data exchanges. Build large-scale national data facilities under Vietnamese sovereignty. Establish Vietnam's big data industry. Strongly develop artificial intelligence applications based on big data in important sectors and fields.

4. Develop and prioritize high-quality human resources and talents to meet the requirements for national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation

- Increase investment, reform, and improve the quality of education and training to ensure high-quality human resources meet the requirements for national science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation. Establish attractive mechanisms for scholarships, loans, and tuition to attract talented students in mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, key engineering, and technology fields, especially at postgraduate levels. Develop and implement talent training programs in these fields.

- Issue special mechanisms to attract Vietnamese experts abroad and highly qualified foreigners to work and live in Vietnam. Establish special mechanisms on nationality, property, income, and work environment to attract, prioritize, and retain top scientists, experts, and "chief engineers" domestically and internationally, capable of organizing, managing, and implementing national priority tasks in science, technology, innovation, AI development, and human resource training. Build, connect, and develop a network of domestic and international experts and scientists.

- Build some advanced and specialized AI training schools and centers. Establish special public-private cooperation mechanisms for digital technology human resource training. Develop online education platforms, digital university models, and enhance digital literacy in society.

- Develop a team of lecturers and scientists with sufficient competence and expertise to teach basic sciences, semiconductor chips, microcircuits, and key engineering and technology fields; strengthen cooperation with prestigious foreign universities; radically reform curricula to international standards, modernize training methods, and apply advanced technology, especially AI.

5. Promote digital transformation, and apply science, technology, and innovation in political system agencies; enhance national governance efficiency and state management effectiveness in various fields, ensuring national defense and security

- Have plans and roadmaps to bring all activities of political system agencies onto the digital environment, ensuring interconnection, synchronization, and state secrecy. Build national shared digital platforms, and develop intelligent monitoring and command systems to enhance public administration.\

- Fully reform administrative procedures, provide public services independent of administrative boundaries; improve quality of online public services and digital services for citizens and enterprises, aiming for fully online, personalized, and data-driven public services; strengthen monitoring, evaluation, and accountability of state agencies and officials in serving the people.

- Have special policies to attract, recruit, and retain personnel in science, technology, and digital transformation to work in political system agencies.

- Develop secure digital platforms and enhance digital technology applications, creating digital citizens. Develop some Vietnamese social networks, build a safe and healthy digital society. Develop digital culture while preserving national identity; establish codes of conduct in cyberspace; reduce negative impacts of digital technology on society. Build digital platforms to monitor and collect data on resources and environment.

- Ensure cybersecurity, network safety, and national sovereignty on digital platforms and cyberspace; protect legal data of organizations, individuals, and enterprises and national data security. Modernize military equipment and technology. Gradually apply digital technology in command and operational control of armed forces and master high technology in national defense and security. Effectively prevent cybercrime and online fraud. Build and enhance the strength of the people’s war posture and public trust in cyberspace to protect the Fatherland.

6. Strongly promote science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation in enterprises

- Have preferential policies and incentives for enterprises, especially SMEs, to invest in digital transformation, research, application of science, innovation, and technology to improve production, business efficiency, and enterprise management; promote knowledge transfer and training in science, technology, innovation through FDI enterprises; support domestic technology enterprises to invest abroad.

- Have strong policies to encourage entrepreneurship in science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation, together with startup support policies, and attract domestic and foreign enterprises to start up in Vietnam.

- Establish mechanisms and policies to support the formation and development of some large-scale strategic domestic digital technology enterprises to develop digital infrastructure, lead national digital transformation, and be internationally competitive; mechanisms to order and assign tasks to digital technology enterprises to implement national priority tasks in digital transformation; preferential mechanisms on land, credit, and taxes for research, testing, application, development, and production of digital technology products and services. Develop some digital technology industrial parks. Promote enterprise reinvestment in infrastructure, research, and development (R&D).

- Promote consumption of products and services in the digital environment; ensure that the digital economy in sectors accounts for at least 70% of the digital economy; promote smart production in agriculture, commerce, finance, education, healthcare, transportation, and logistics.

7. Strengthen international cooperation in the development of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation

- Focus on promoting scientific research and technology development cooperation with countries with advanced science, technology, and digital transformation, especially in AI, biotechnology, quantum technology, semiconductors, nuclear energy, and other strategic technologies.

- Have policies for purchasing and transferring advanced technologies suitable for Vietnam’s conditions. Proactively and actively participate in establishing international rules and standards on new technologies to ensure safety and mutual benefits. Promote capacity building and technology transfer in international agreements and treaties in which Vietnam participates.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

1. Establish the Central Steering Committee on the development of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation, chaired by the General Secretary of the Party Central Committee. Establish the National Advisory Council on the development of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation with the participation of domestic and international experts.

2. The Party Delegation of the National Assembly shall lead and direct the review and completion of legislation on the development of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation; strengthen supervision of implementation according to regulations.

3. The Party Committee of the Government shall lead and direct the construction of an action program to implement the Resolution; coordinate with the Party Delegation of the National Assembly to fully institutionalize the policies and guidelines stated in this Resolution and allocate sufficient resources for implementation, essentially completing it by 2025.

4. The Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations shall lead and direct the construction of programs and plans to guide and mobilize the people to implement the Resolution, promote the role of social supervision and criticism, and participate in the development of laws, mechanisms, and policies on the development of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

5. The Central Propaganda Department shall take the lead, in coordination with relevant agencies, to guide the thorough implementation of the Resolution; guide and strengthen the dissemination of the contents of the Resolution.

6. The Office of the Party Central Committee, in coordination with the Central Economic Commission, shall monitor, inspect, and evaluate the results of the Resolution’s implementation; report the results every six months to the Central Steering Committee and the Politburo for direction.

This Resolution shall be disseminated to all Party cells.