NAFOSTED supports businesses in accessing funding sources to carry out national science and technology tasks

On September 5, 2025, in Ho Chi Minh City, the National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) organized a scientific workshop on “Supporting the improvement of the quality of proposals of enterprises participating in implementing science and technology tasks funded by the Fund”. The workshop attracted special attention from scientists, universities, technology enterprises and management agencies, opening up opportunities to enhance research and innovation capacity, especially in strategic technology fields.

Overview of the Workshop.

"Three-house" alliance promotes national strategic technology

In his opening speech, Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Ngoc Chien, Director of NAFOSTED, emphasized that the Workshop is a step to concretize Resolution No. 57 and Decision No. 1131/QD-TTg dated June 12, 2025 of the Prime Minister promulgating the list of strategic technologies (ST) and ST products. "NAFOSTED wishes to accompany businesses in completing and improving the quality of S&T task proposal documents, especially in the ST list - a prerequisite for the topic to comply with regulations, be feasible, highly effective, and at the same time closely connect the "3 houses": State - School - Enterprise".

The Government, the Ministry of Science and Technology and NAFOSTED have been implementing many mechanisms and policies to encourage and support the scientific community as well as businesses to actively participate in research and development activities, in which the Fund's research funding programs are considered an important channel for businesses to access financial resources, improve technological capacity and develop new products.

However, in reality, many businesses and scientific organizations still face difficulties in developing and presenting proposals for science and technology tasks. Many documents lack information, do not clarify novelty, feasibility or do not meet the evaluation standards of the scientific council... This limits the opportunity to access funding sources, and at the same time affects the effectiveness of implementing tasks after approval.

Mr. Dao Ngoc Chien hopes that the active participation of scientists and businesses in NAFOSTED's funding programs will contribute to the formation of many high-quality proposals, affirming the Fund's "bridge" role in making science and technology a driving force for national development.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Ngoc Chien, Director of NAFOSTED delivered the opening speech at the Workshop.

Speaking at the workshop, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City National University (HCMC National University) emphasized that the spirit of Resolution 57 begins with the word "breakthrough", so universities, research institutes and businesses must act more synchronously and decisively. She said that HCMC National University has strongly implemented the "3-house" cooperation model, linking research with practice, but the State's participation in mechanisms, policies and resources is still slow compared to requirements. In the coming period, HCMC National University will continue to be persistent, creative and responsible in promoting "3-house" cooperation, considering this a long-term task associated with the mission of training, research and innovation to serve the country's development.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, Vice President of VNU-HCM speaking at the Workshop.

Introducing the funding programs of NAFOSTED Foundation, Mr. Dao Ngoc Chien said that NAFOSTED is currently implementing three types of international cooperation tasks including: Protocol Tasks, Bilateral Cooperation and Multilateral Cooperation. On average, each year, the Fund opens about 500 new topics, maintains 1,500 transitional topics with a total budget from the State budget of up to 2,500 billion VND. In the coming period, NAFOSTED aims to build a high-quality research ecosystem, bringing Vietnam into the top three ASEAN countries in terms of international publications/billion USD, the top four countries in terms of H-index; increase the number of patent applications and protection certificates by at least 15% per year; support 40-50 science and technology organizations to achieve international rankings...

To achieve the goal, the Fund promotes administrative reform, strong decentralization, applying online registration, assessment and management of tasks. Regarding finance, in addition to strengthening the state budget, the participation of enterprises with an expected capital structure of 20-30% from the budget, 70-80% from enterprises; applying the mechanism of spending allocation, accepting risks, switching from pre-control to post-control to promote science, technology and innovation.

Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Ngoc Chien, Director of NAFOSTED, introduces the Fund's funding programs.

Flexible mechanism, strong support: CNCL enters the acceleration phase

Mr. Hoang Anh Tu, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, said that the CNCL Program was implemented under Decision No. 1131, with a list of 11 technology groups and 35 strategic product groups, ranging from artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor chips, blockchain to robots... to master the design, integrate into products from core technologies, thereby increasing the value of Vietnam in CNCL products to over 50%. According to Mr. Hoang Anh Tu, the CNCLs were selected based on key criteria: Great impact on the economy - society, having a foundation and high spreading ability, suitable for Vietnam's competitive advantages, meeting the urgency of national security and sovereignty and having strong commercialization potential.

To implement, the Program will include component programs corresponding to 11 CNCL groups. These are special programs and tasks, which, if necessary, can be assigned to the "Chief Engineer" to directly preside over. The State also applies flexible mechanisms such as appointing experts, purchasing technology or products according to agreed funding; at the same time, giving priority to directly assigning CNCL development tasks to organizations and enterprises that are capable of attracting talent and resources. In parallel, the Program provides many strong support mechanisms: Funding and ordering research; laboratories; sandbox mechanism; intellectual property, standards and regulations; loan interest support; promoting international cooperation; communication and market expansion. Participating organizations and enterprises will also enjoy the highest incentives on tax and land.

Mr. Hoang Anh Tu, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Engineering presented at the Workshop.

From an academic perspective, Associate Professor Dr. Lam Quang Vinh, VNU-HCM, emphasized that in the "3-house" cooperation model: State - Scientists - Enterprises, the school plays a key role, both producing knowledge and being a bridge to bring science and technology into life. In the period 2021-2025, VNU-HCM has formed over 10 strong research groups, mastering many core technologies, with an impressive growth rate of scientific publications: The number of Scopus articles increased by an average of 20%/year, of which 40% were in the Q1 group; in 2024 alone, it exceeded 3,000 articles, accounting for 13.6% of the number of scientific publications nationwide. Revenue from science and technology transfer reached about 260 billion VND/year and 18 majors were ranked by QS-Asia, of which one major was in the Top 100 in the world.

In particular, the Center for Innovation of VNU-HCM has become a connecting point between research, businesses and the community, following the cooperation perspective of "co-creating new technology, sharing profits and risks, investing and orienting technology". This model helps schools and businesses work together in co-ownership of copyright, joint research, business incubation, consulting, human resource training and co-creation of intellectual property.

He recommended that it is necessary to unify the development of the CNCL Program associated with the policies and guidelines for science and technology development and product commercialization; at the same time, the State needs to soon have a breakthrough mechanism, allocating funds for universities, especially the National University of Ho Chi Minh City - to attract talents and develop CNCL. He also proposed to pilot the mechanism of merging central, local and enterprise capital into the Fund, increasing decentralization and delegation of authority so that schools can be more flexible in using the fund, aiming at effective cooperation between the "3 houses".

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Quang Vinh, VNU-HCM presented at the Conference.

From a business perspective, Mr. Tran Huyen Dinh, Head of Fintech Application Committee of Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Asset Association, Head of Fintech Application Division of VBA, Director of Basal Pay project, said that blockchain and digital assets are becoming strategic infrastructure of large corporations in the world - this is also a trend that Vietnam needs to grasp to create a foundation for the digital economy. Accordingly, he proposed an implementation roadmap: The 2025-2026 period will focus on expanding the sandbox, allowing the conversion of crypto assets to VND across the IFC system, piloting real assets (RWA), digital asset trading floors (VASP) and public services on the VBSN infrastructure, and at the same time developing a draft set of domestic technical standards. The 2027-2030 period will summarize, institutionalize and expand the entire market, issue a set of national standards for blockchain, participate in cross-border projects to connect international infrastructure. Vision after 2030, Vietnam can become the leading blockchain service and digital asset center in the region, developing based on the IFC and VBSN platforms.

Mr. Tran Huyen Dinh, Chairman of Fintech Application Committee of Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Asset Association, Project Director of Basal Pay, Head of Fintech Application Division of VBA, Director of Basal Pay presented at the Workshop.

At the workshop, delegates also shared international experiences in promoting and developing national strategic products; notes when preparing proposal documents to participate in implementing S&T tasks funded by the Fund; some new policy mechanisms on project budgeting. In addition, delegates exchanged and discussed focusing on 4 main contents: Providing information and criteria for evaluating documents; sharing experiences from scientists and businesses; introducing the CNCL Program and S&T development policies; at the same time creating a forum for businesses to raise difficulties, and working with management agencies and experts to find solutions. Open exchanges have contributed to improving the quality of documents, increasing opportunities to receive financial support and the effectiveness of task implementation, affirming the role of NAFOSTED as a "bridge" to make S&T become a driving force for national development.

The Presidium chaired the discussion session.

Delegates take souvenir photos.

Center for Science and Technology Communication

Source: https://mst.gov.vn/nafosted-lam-be-phong-dua-nghien-cuu-cong-nghe-chien-luoc-ra-thi-truong-197250906100011277.htm