At what stage should businesses become involved to ensure that research outcomes meet market demand? And how can cooperation with universities and research institutes move beyond agreements on paper to real technology transfer?
These questions were raised at a recent workshop on government-academia-industry partnership, organised in Quang Ninh by the Central Commission for Publicity, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations and Quang Ninh City.
Experts at the workshop said businesses have begun to play a more active role in research, training and technology development. Major technology groups such as Viettel, VNPT and FPT have formed strategic partnerships with universities, set up research facilities and in-house academies, and become directly involved in training technology talent.
In traditional manufacturing, challenges with raw materials, equipment and product quality have also prompted many businesses to invest in research, foster innovation and gain greater control over production.
Dat Viet Ceramics Joint Stock Company, which workshop participants visited during a field trip, illustrates the importance of in-house research capabilities. Faced with market fluctuations, rising production costs and competition from new construction materials, the company chose to upgrade its technology to increase productivity, enhance quality and develop new products.
According to the company’s report, Dat Viet Ceramics established a science and technology research and development (R&D) centre in 2012-2013 and launched a company-wide campaign to encourage technical innovation and improvement.
Hundreds of research and improvement projects have since been carried out, helping to automate many production stages, reduce reliance on manual labour and expand the company’s capacity to develop new products.
However, Dat Viet Ceramics’ experience also shows that businesses need support from government agencies, universities, research institutes and science and technology organisations to achieve bigger breakthroughs.
Company management said connecting businesses’ practical needs with research and technology transfer capabilities would help address resource constraints, bridge the gap between laboratories and factories and improve the commercialisation of research findings.
Commenting on the company’s experience, Le Xuan Thao, Standing Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Fund for Supporting Technological Creations (VIFOTEC), said it was important to translate research findings into practical production technologies that deliver economic benefits while saving energy and resources and protecting the environment.
The company’s experience points to an important prerequisite for implementing Resolution 57 in the business sector: businesses must be able to identify technological challenges and mobilise resources to address them. This also lays the foundation for more effective partnerships with research institutes and universities.
Presentations at the workshop showed that the risk of failure is high when businesses join the cooperation process only at the final stage, simply to receive transferred technology.
Instead, businesses must take part from the outset, briefing scientists on market needs, the shortcomings of existing technologies, customer requirements and acceptable costs.
Just as important, businesses must contribute resources and share risks. Such co-financing not only provides additional funding but also serves as a test of genuine market demand.
Another bottleneck identified at the workshop was the narrow view of businesses’ role in higher education.
For many years, businesses have largely seen themselves as consumers of education, recruiting graduates rather than helping to co-create knowledge.
Moreover, as most Vietnamese businesses are small or medium-sized, their limited R&D budgets have made many of them reluctant to enter long-term partnerships with universities and research institutes.
Businesses therefore need to change their mindset. Rather than seeing themselves merely as employers of graduates or providers of largely symbolic scholarships, they should work with universities to develop cooperation models that benefit all three sides and the wider community.
Businesses should identify practical technological challenges, commit matching resources and set clear plans for using research findings, whether through adopting the technology or through joint ownership of the results. Their participation can be flexible in extent and form, depending on the nature of each project, but they must remain accountable throughout implementation.
Businesses should also involve university lecturers in corporate management, advisory work and innovation.
Businesses also need to invest in strengthening their capacity to absorb new technologies. Recruiting experts, acquiring designs and upskilling technical staff should be closely aligned with their product development and production strategies.
Large enterprises could set up dedicated departments for cooperation with universities and research institutes, enabling them to make effective use of academic expertise to drive their own growth.
