The national science and technology development program on seeking and transferring foreign technologies to Vietnam has recently been approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST).

The program aims to improve the effectiveness of transferring, mastering and developing foreign technologies in Vietnam, especially in priority fields serving demand for new technological products and services, thus improving productivity, quality, added value and competitiveness of products in the market.

Under the plan, Vietnam will form a network of international technology that satisfies the needs of technology transfer; improve the quality of the labor force of enterprises and science and technology organizations; form a database about domestic technology demand, supply foreign technologies and specialists, international technological partners, and services that support foreign technologies; and deploy activities supporting technology transfer.

The program will help promote cooperation between Vietnamese and foreign localities through technology transfer and development activities in order to create a competitive edge.

The newly approved program defines five groups of tasks, including 1/ researching and perfecting the policies and solutions to facilitate technology transfer, mastering and development 2/ improving the capability of seeking, transferring, mastering and developing foreign technologies 3/ building, maintaining and exploiting foreign search networks and databases 4/ supporting enterprises and science and technology institutions in activities of transferring, decoding, mastering and developing foreign technologies and 5/ supporting media campaigns.

Regarding training, under the program, at least 5,000 officers, technicians and administrators in institutions and enterprises will be trained and get practice in seeking, transferring, decoding, mastering and developing technology, offline and online.

Regarding databases and software, Vietnam aims to establish a network of at least 400 international technology partners, with at least 8,000 dossiers on foreign technologies that fit the demands of organizations and enterprises in Vietnam; and build an electronic information portal that supports transfer of technologies to Vietnam.

In terms of technological products, besides the goal of having at least 30 technologies which can be decoded and mastered, at least 5 key products with high-added value and competitiveness, MST plans to have at least 100 foreign technologies to be found and transferred to Vietnamese organizations and enterprises in priority fields.

Van Anh