Commissioning research based on practical needs, measuring results by products

A research result may meet scientific requirements but still not be ready to become a product. The gap between the laboratory and the market also depends on actual demand, production capacity, the receiving entity, and resources to further develop the technology.

If these factors are only considered after a project ends, research results may stop at acceptance. This is why strategic technology development requires a different approach: identifying in advance the problem to be solved, the product to be created, and where it can potentially be applied.

At a conference on August 10 to disseminate documents guiding the implementation of strategic technology research and development tasks, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Le Xuan Dinh stressed three requirements: shifting from procedure-heavy management to output-based management; starting with real-world problems rather than task proposals; and measuring results by technological mastery and products applied in practice.

This approach is specified in Circular No. 48/2026/TT-BKHCN on the procedures for considering funding, placing orders, appraising, approving, and signing contracts, and Circular No. 49/2026/TT-BKHCN on financial mechanisms for strategic technology research and development tasks.

Starting where products will be used

From the business perspective, FPT Group General Director Nguyen Van Khoa said each strategic technology programme should clearly identify the responsible agency and a business as the core entity, with the participation of universities, research institutes, and international partners.

Objectives, budgets, timelines, and outputs must be established from the outset. In particular, new products need an ordering and user entity. Without a market, research results are unlikely to progress to application and commercialisation, while technology businesses will lack the conditions to build capacity and expand production.

This calls for a change in the starting point of a task. Instead of beginning with the question of what scientists want to research, it is necessary to clarify what problems an industry, locality, or business needs to solve; to what extent existing technologies can meet those needs; and where the final product will be used.

Under Circular 48, tasks can be organised as individual tasks, clusters of tasks, or linked sequences of tasks. This structure is suited to the technology development process, as a product often has to go through multiple stages, from research and prototype development to testing, production, and market launch.

Each task is divided into work packages and assessment milestones, with clearly defined objectives, outputs, technical specifications, timelines, funding, and responsibilities of the lead organisation.

Thus, results are no longer assessed only once when a task is completed. At each milestone, the management authority can assess which technological requirements have been met, what conditions the product still lacks, and whether investment should continue into the next stage.

Early screening to avoid fragmented investment

For problems with multiple feasible technological approaches, the new mechanism allows different independent research options to be pursued simultaneously. Each option must differ in its technological direction, solution, or approach and be assessed at each milestone.

Options that are no longer suitable can be discontinued, while resources continue to be allocated to approaches that have demonstrated effectiveness. This approach is suited to new technology research, where not every initial option will necessarily succeed.

Accepting multiple research directions does not mean distributing resources equally until the end of a task. Early screening helps limit prolonged investment in options with little remaining potential, while concentrating funding on solutions capable of producing viable products.

Assoc. Prof., PhD Dao Ngoc Chien, Director of the Executive Agency of the National Foundation for Science and Technology Development, said strategic technology tasks are highly complex and risky, requiring system integration capabilities and the ability to bring results into production, transfer, and commercialisation.

Therefore, Circular 49 establishes a financial mechanism based on work packages and assessment milestones. Each package must clearly state what the resources are being used for, what product will be created, and when the results need to be verified.

Results at each milestone serve as the basis for payment, finalisation, and funding for the next stage. If a task fails to meet requirements, the competent authority may request adjustments or terminate it early.

This approach shifts the point of control from expenditure documents to technological results. Implementing organisations have greater flexibility, but must take responsibility for products, technical specifications, timelines, and the effectiveness of funding use.

Bringing businesses in from the outset

A technology product can only reach the market when the research process is linked to production capacity, testing, and user demand. Therefore, businesses should not appear only at the stage of receiving results after acceptance.

The new mechanism expands business participation in identifying problems, proposing tasks, conducting research, providing counterpart resources, testing, and commercialising products.

Counterpart resources are not limited to funding, but may include personnel, equipment, production lines, laboratories, infrastructure, software, intellectual property, and other lawful resources directly serving the task.

Early participation enables businesses to jointly determine technical specifications, production conditions, and market requirements. Research teams also have opportunities to test solutions in real-world environments instead of developing products solely within the laboratory.

Therefore, funding and task-ordering councils will include not only experts and scientists relevant to the research field but also members with expertise in finance, economics, production, commercialisation, or market development. Tasks will be assessed simultaneously in terms of scientific value and their potential to create products.

Circulars 48 and 49 provide a framework for shifting from the mindset of “completing a research project” to “solving a problem”; from assessing results through documentation to verifying them through products; and from allocating funding according to plans to allocating resources based on results.

However, the ultimate effectiveness will still depend on the quality of the problems being commissioned. Problems must stem from actual needs, have measurable targets, identify the user, and select the right organisation with the capacity to implement them.

When the market and application destination are taken into account from the outset, products become the measure of success, and resources are screened at each milestone, helping to shorten the gap between the laboratory and real-world application.