How Vietnam's local innovation index is built

The Local Innovation Index (PII) is built on the same structure as the Global Innovation Index (GII) but is adjusted to suit the realities of each locality in Vietnam.

The Provincial Innovation Index (PII) was developed by the Ministry of Science and Technology to provide an overview of the current status of the socio-economic development model based on science, technology and innovation in each locality. 2022 is the first year the index was piloted with 20 localities. After the results are available, the Government will direct its development nationwide in 2023.

The Ministry of Science and Technology said that the structure of the PII index is designed with two groups of input indexes (5 pillars) and output indexes (2 pillars). Each pillar has groups with 52 component indexes (GII usually has about 80 component indexes).

Comparison of GII index framework in 2023 and Vietnam PII in 2023. Source: Ministry of Science and Technology — Comparison of GII index framework in 2023 and Vietnam PII in 2023. Source: *Ministry of Science and Technology*

The reason for the adjustment of the component indices is that the GII is assessed at the national level, so many similar statistics at the local level are not available. In addition, the assessment method according to international standards is still new, and there are points that are not suitable for the local level of Vietnam.

Localities have differences in socio -economic scale, population, land, economic structure, development orientation... so it is necessary to choose a development model based on different science, technology and innovation, suitable to the context, conditions and unique characteristics of each locality. "Many localities have proposed that there should be a set of innovation indexes specifically for the locality to base on to better direct and manage operations, closer to reality", said a representative of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Local innovation index framework in 2023. Source: Ministry of Science and Technology — Local innovation index framework in 2023. Source: *Ministry of Science and Technology*

To obtain the data, the Ministry of Science and Technology has organized many workshops and worked with ministries, central and local agencies to unify the collection method.

The data are collected from statistical reports, official management reports of central and local agencies; data from other index sets (Administrative reform, Provincial competitiveness, Digital transformation, Provincial governance and public administration efficiency).

Specifically, there are 20 indicators taken from reports and statistics of central agencies and organizations (38.5%); 11 indicators taken from other sets of indicators (21%); 8 indicators taken from state management data of the Ministry of Science and Technology (15.5%); 13 indicators
from locally provided data (25%).

The data is then also assessed and checked, compared with supporting documents. After processing the data, analyzing, calculating with procedures, methods, and techniques according to international standards and being evaluated by independent international experts, the results of ranking 63 localities are given.

Data sources of local innovation index — Data source of local innovation index.

Mr. Tran Van Nghia, Deputy Director of the Academy of Science, Technology and Innovation (Ministry of Science and Technology) - the unit that built the index set, said "with 52 component indexes reflecting the values (measurements) of different contents, to calculate the final composite index used for ranking, the component indexes are standardized to the same unified scale with values from 0-100".

According to Mr. Nghia, during the design phase of the index framework and component indexes, there was the participation of technical advisors from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). International experts also independently evaluated the statistics and methods to confirm the reliability, transparency of the calculation process, the certainty and stability of the newly officially announced model.

The PII website, hosted by VnExpress , will update information on the rankings of 63 provinces and cities nationwide. In addition to the overall rankings, readers can search for detailed information on the basic indicators of each province.

>>>Information on local PII rankings will be published here