HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Science and Technology is developing mechanisms for identifying intellectual property assets, domestic venture capital funds and tax incentives for research and development (R&D) to promote an innovation and artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem.

Deputy Director of the ministry’s Information Technology Industry Department Trần Anh Tú said the world is entering the “AI decade.” This means that technology is reshaping every field, from education, healthcare and transport to governance.

Việt Nam considers AI as both the core of and catalyst for digital transformation to improve productivity, quality and national competitiveness in the shift towards a knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy, he said.

He added that the country is improving its legal framework for AI development and application to ensure transparency, safety and accountability.

The ministry is working to develop mechanisms to recognise intellectual property as capital contributions, build domestic venture capital funds and introduce tax incentives for R&D.

Tú said the nation's AI start-up community is expanding rapidly, supported by the presence of global tech companies like NVIDIA, Google and Meta, as well as international programmes like AWS Activate, Google for Startups and NVIDIA Inception, which are helping to strengthen Việt Nam’s fast-growing AI innovation ecosystem.

According to Lê Vũ Toàn from the National Agency for Start-ups and Technology Entrepreneurship, the country's AI strategy identifies AI as a core technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with an aim of placing Việt Nam among the top four nations in ASEAN in terms of AI research, development and application.  

A draft law on AI is also being developed with a human-centred approach to ensure ethical factors, fairness and transparency.

Boston Consulting Group has projected that AI could contribute up to US$130 billion to Việt Nam’s economy by 2040, as well as an estimated $5 trillion globally. — VNS