Removing procedures for businesses to boldly invest in R&D
Speaking at the 2nd thematic session "Science and technology - innovation - the driving force to rise up" of the Vietnam Private Economic Forum (VPSF 2025) on the afternoon of September 15 under the direction of the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union, with the coordination of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Mr. Nguyen Van Khoa - General Director of FPT, Vice President of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association emphasized - we are living in a special time - a "golden time" for the development of science and technology and the private economic sector.
Within just two weeks after Resolution 68-NQ/TW was issued, the implementation document system has been basically completed - an unprecedented speed in history. The Government has demonstrated the spirit of "high determination, great efforts, drastic actions", with specific assignments to each ministry, branch, and locality.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Khoa, along with the determination of the Government, Vietnamese enterprises are increasingly solid in the international market - IT service export revenue will reach 15 billion USD in 2024, double-digit growth for many consecutive years. Vietnam also has great advantages in terms of technology human resources. For example: 100 million people, average age of 32, nearly 70% of working age or 1.5 million IT workers, growth of 1012%/year...
Vietnam is also forming a new human resource: Digital Workers AI Agents. This is a virtual workforce that can support R&D, smart production monitoring, 24/7 customer service, or internal operations management. This opens up the possibility of Vietnam not only exporting technology engineers, but also exporting "AI Workers" - a digital force that directly participates in the global value chain" - Mr. Khoa assessed.
Proposing solutions to promote the development of science and technology for innovation to bring the private sector to break through, Mr. Khoa hopes that the Government will soon issue a Plan to implement Resolution 198/2025/QH15 on a number of special mechanisms and policies for private economic development. This will be an important document to concretize the major orientation of the National Assembly.
According to FPT's representative, although many laws and Resolutions have issued a mechanism for deducting 200% of R&D costs when calculating corporate income tax. However, businesses are still facing difficulties due to lack of guidance and complicated procedures.
"The Government is requested to soon issue detailed instructions, remove procedures, so that private enterprises can truly benefit and have long-term investment motivation in innovation" - Mr. Khoa suggested.
An important highlight is the human resources of industries such as AI, semiconductors, biotechnology that need large investments and long preparation time. If only leaving the autonomous mechanism, it will be difficult for schools to boldly open majors because they are worried about lack of output.
"Request the Government to assign strategic technology human resource training targets to universities and colleges to solve the human resource problem for businesses at the root" - Mr. Khoa suggested.
Fintech - a great opportunity but lacking data and legality
At the Experts' Forum, experts also discussed promoting innovation in the field of Fintech Vietnam. Mr. Nguyen Ba Diep, Co-founder of MOMO, said that Vietnam currently has about 55 million people of working age, but only about 30% are paid through the banking system. The majority of the rest are freelance workers, informal workers, because they do not have transparent income records, it is very difficult to access traditional credit from banks.
To be able to use Fintech as a lever for those goals, Mr. Diep has a number of policy-related proposals.
"First, establish a focal unit to support Fintech. The State needs to establish a specialized unit to play the role of " stepping agency", supporting Fintech businesses in policies, legal affairs, connecting and resolving inter-Ministryal issues.
Second, build a legal corridor for Open Data and Open API, allowing multilateral connectivity between banks, securities, insurance and Fintech. Third, promote financial inclusion and the digital banking model. And finally, developing a creative data infrastructure and sandbox" - Mr. Nguyen Ba Diep proposed.
The Vietnam Private Economy Forum (VPSF 2025) is a national-scale policy - dialogue - action event, chaired by the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association, held from July to September 2025.
On September 15, the dialogue sessions with 4 thematic sessions at the Ministry level of the Vietnam Private Economy Forum (VPSF) 2025 were discussed, including: "Enterprises - Enterprises rise up"; "Science and technology - Innovation - Rising power to rise up"; "Sharing strategic spearheads - Rising to international standards", "Rising the level of internal resources to reach breakthroughs".
Tomorrow (September 16), a high-level plenary session will take place, including a speech from the Government leaders, announcing and approving the VPSF 2025 Joint Statement, affirming the vision and commitment to accompany the State and the business community.
