At the August 2026 press conference held on the afternoon of August 28 by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Dao Ngoc Chien - Director of the National Science and Technology Development Fund (Ministry of Science and Technology) presented the financial mechanism for strategic technology research and development (R&D) tasks according to Circular No. 49/2026/TT-BKHCN dated August 1, 2026.
According to this mechanism, the state budget supports a maximum of 100% of funding for tasks ordered by the State, including core technology, foundational technology, technology of great significance for national technological autonomy, defense, security and high-risk tasks in science, technology and innovation.
For strategic technology products with the ability to be applied, transferred, and commercialized, the maximum support level from the state budget is 70%, the rest is counterpart funds. The support level is linked to the goals, development stage, level of risk and ability to mobilize non-budget resources.
According to the Director of the National Science and Technology Development Fund (Ministry of Science and Technology), a core change is to shift from management based heavily on input and procedures to results-based management. Tasks are divided into work packages, clearly defining goals, scope, output products, costs, responsibilities and implementation time.
At the evaluation milestones, the council reviews the results. If achieved, the task is paid and funding is allocated for the next phase; if not achieved, funding will be stopped. Thus, the cash flow is designed to follow the research results.
The new mechanism also shifts from pre-inspection to autonomy and post-inspection, increasing the initiative for organizations and individuals to perform tasks but accompanied by accountability and risk management. Objective risks of R&D activities are accepted, while violations in the use of resources are not accepted.
To prevent R&D from being interrupted, the mechanism allows the implementation of multiple independent research options for the same problem, then screening according to the results of each milestone and stopping the option is no longer appropriate.
The estimate can also allocate a maximum of 10% of contingency funds from the state budget to handle arising issues related to content, volume, material and labor price slippage in product manufacturing and testing. The presiding organization is advanced from a legal source to implement urgent content before the budget is allocated.
The mechanism also encourages the mobilization of social resources. Businesses and organizations can contribute machinery, equipment, laboratories, intellectual property rights and human resources to solve technological problems with the State.
Regarding human resources, the remuneration level is determined according to position and responsibility. The ceiling for the General Contractor is 300 million VND/month, the Head of Task is 150 million VND/month; the remaining positions have a lower ceiling. This level is used to prepare, appraise and approve the estimate, while the remuneration implemented is linked to the position, output products and participation time.
According to the presentation, the goal of the mechanism is to shift from research funding to investment in technology mastery capacity, product formation and towards transfer and commercialization.
