Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – A new pilot policy scheme designed to promote the commercialisation of research outcomes and intellectual property with funding from the State budget is expected to address long-standing bottlenecks and help bridge the gap between research and real-world application in Ho Chi Minh City.
In recent years, the city has achieved notable progress in supporting innovation and startups. Since 2016, the Ho Chi Minh City Innovation and Startup Centre has assisted more than 500 startup projects, around 150 of which have begun commercialising their products and generating economic value. However, only about 20% of these projects have managed to connect with venture capital funds or major enterprises, largely due to the lack of clear and effective support mechanisms.
Similarly, between 2010 and 2022, the Saigon Hi-Tech Park attracted more than 200 high-tech projects with total registered investment exceeding 12 billion USD. Several products such as semiconductor chips and smart sensors have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. Yet only around 10% of domestic research results have been integrated into these projects, mainly because of weak linkages and the absence of effective intermediary organisations connecting research institutions with businesses.
Statistics from the municipal Department of Science and Technology show that during the 2014–2018 period, only 13% of State-funded science and technology projects were successfully commercialised, while many research outcomes remained ready for transfer but had not reached the market. At present, the overall commercialisation rate of research and innovation results is estimated at around 5% of completed projects.
According to the department, these limitations stem from several factors, including complicated procedures for valuing intellectual assets, difficulties in transferring rights, and risk-averse attitudes in implementation. In addition, the cooperation among the State, scientists and enterprises has not been strong enough, while mechanisms to encourage businesses to participate from the early stages of research remain limited.
To address these challenges, Ho Chi Minh City has introduced a pilot scheme aimed at encouraging the commercialisation of research results and intellectual property. The programme is expected to create a strong policy push to bring research products from laboratories to the market.
Under the scheme, the State may provide financial support covering up to 50% of the cost of completing and commercialising research products, thereby sharing risks with enterprises. The programme also introduces mechanisms to expand the rights to exploit research results, promote transparency in management and create intermediary activities that connect technology with markets and businesses.
Enterprises are placed at the centre of the commercialisation process, with new mechanisms designed to encourage their participation from the early stages and ensure that research activities are closely aligned with market demand.
Just over two weeks after its launch, the scheme attracted 29 organisations registering for the first round with 54 science and technology products. The total projected funding for this round exceeds 500 billion VND (19 million USD), including more than 200 billion VND from the State budget.
The participating projects focus on several key technology areas, including unmanned aerial vehicles and the low-altitude economy, artificial intelligence, digital transformation and smart cities, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, high-tech agriculture, industrial manufacturing technologies and smart urban infrastructure.
During the pilot period from 2026 to 2028, the city aims to bring at least 10 science and technology products to market, increase the commercialisation rate to 8–10%, and strengthen cooperation among the State, research institutes, universities and enterprises, thereby promoting innovation and supporting the development of a sustainable knowledge-based economy./.
VNA
