Market signals
According to forecasts, in the next 5–10 years, the demand for biotechnology personnel in Viet Nam will increase sharply in both quantity and quality. The focus of this demand is on engineers capable of mastering industrial-scale biotechnology processes, meeting stringent quality control standards, optimising transfer processes, and integrating data management throughout the modern value chain.
Experts emphasised the need to adapt to the rapid changes of the digital age, as many new biotechnologies require significant computing power and the ability to interact between biology and digital technology.
Dr. Pham Chau Huynh, Director of the Da Nang Biotechnology Centre, stated: “From a quick survey of 20 Bioprocess Engineer job postings at the beginning of 2025, we observed very clear signs of a shift in the labour market, with 17 out of 20 positions requiring basic Python and Machine Learning skills. Looking further ahead, biotechnology training will shift strongly from simply meeting job requirements to developing the capacity to master technology and adapt continuously.”
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Quang Huy — Deputy Head of the Faculty of Life Sciences, Ha Noi University of Science and Technology — believes that biotechnology personnel in the coming period must possess both specialised knowledge and proficiency in digital technology, capable of connecting research with production and the market in the global bioeconomy.
Many domestic biotechnology training institutions have proactively addressed shortcomings in their training programmes to keep pace with the market and the biotechnology industry. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Huu Hieu, Rector of Da Nang University of Technology, affirmed that biotechnology personnel will inevitably need to possess more interdisciplinary capabilities, understanding both biology and working with data, standardised processes, digital environments, and the increasingly stringent compliance requirements of the market.
Motivation and challenges
In the context of the need for significant innovation in training, the Party and State have implemented numerous policies and initiatives to promote the development and application of biotechnology for sustainable national development. These new policies, especially after biotechnology was identified as one of the 11 strategic national technology groups, have propelled the high-quality biotechnology workforce into a breakthrough phase.
According to experts, the issuance and effective implementation of important documents such as Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW of the Politburo on the development and application of biotechnology for sustainable national development, have played a crucial role. Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo on breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation, and the Law on Science, Technology, and Innovation of 2025 will create a comprehensive and strategic policy foundation for biotechnology in general and human resource training in particular.
Notably, the new legal frameworks create additional resources and clarify the path from research to application, as the law has opened up mechanisms for technology transfer, technology-based capital contribution, controlled testing, and data governance.
In recent years, difficulties and obstacles in training human resources in biotechnology have revealed a significant gap between the classroom and the market, especially as technologies tend to combine.
However, from a development perspective, the existing challenges also act as positive “pressures,” clearly signalling the need to restructure the way biotechnology human resource training is conducted. Therefore, the urgent requirement now is to streamline mechanisms and policies to enable universities to exercise autonomy in innovative thinking, standardise quality, and closely integrate with the national innovation ecosystem.
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Quang Huy, a key aspect of the current legal framework is its emphasis on developing the innovation ecosystem, encouraging businesses to invest in R&D, and promoting the commercialisation of research results. However, policies will only be truly effective when training institutions proactively innovate their thinking, improve quality, and closely integrate with the national innovation ecosystem.
The project to train human resources for high-tech development in the 2025–2035 period and with a vision to 2045 has set a target of rapidly increasing the scale of high-level training in STEM fields by 2030, with biotechnology being one of the three emphasised fields.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Huu Hieu believed that to build a human resource in the biotechnology sector that ensures both quality and quantity, the State needs to concretise the orientations into sufficiently strong implementation tools. This includes ordering training based on priority areas, targeted scholarships, shared laboratories by region, and financial mechanisms to encourage schools and businesses to jointly invest in training infrastructure. To increase both quantity and quality, the State cannot simply provide funding based on input, but must also acquire output capabilities.
