The Regional Innovation Cluster, set up with assistance from the Australian Government's Aus4Innovation program, serves as a forum for researchers, businesses and business groups, governments, and farmers to come together and address the agricultural sector’s challenges and opportunities

The next wave of digital technologies – artificial intelligence, blockchain, the Internet of Things, and platforms and cloud-based services – have the potential to transform Vietnam into Asia’s next high-performing economy, and to increase the living standards of Vietnam’s citizens over the coming decades.

The Government of Vietnam recognizes the importance of nurturing its growing science, technology and innovation sector as a way of achieving equitable, sustainable economic development. It has set itself ambitious goals towards becoming an innovation-led nation. The Socio-Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) for 2021-2030, identifies science, technology and innovation as one of the key drivers for development, with a strong emphasis on innovation to change the economic growth model to ensure Vietnam becomes a high-income, inclusive economy by 2045.

So far, Australia has invested AUD$16.5 million in development assistance through the Aus4Innovation program. This program aims to strengthen Vietnam’s innovation system, prepare for and embrace opportunities associated with Industry 4.0, and help shape Vietnam’s innovation agenda in science and technology.

Through Aus4Innovation, Australia and Vietnam have been working together to explore emerging areas of technology and digital transformation, trial new models for partnerships between public and private sector institutions, and strengthen Vietnamese capability in digital foresighting, scenario planning, commercialization, and innovation policy.

Since the program’s commencement in 2018, impactful results have been delivered across all program activities. Some highlights include 130 organizations from both Australia and Vietnam have been brought together in 43 partnerships. These organizations are government agencies, research institutes, universities and businesses – all key stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem; Practical, innovative solutions delivering socioeconomic impact have been applied in different sectors of the economy – health, agriculture and food, smart urban infrastructure, and more; Overall capacity in science commercialization has been significantly enhanced through training for knowledge institutes and individual researchers, piloting of science commercialization models to find the most suitable model for Vietnam. A remarkable result of this effort is the Commercialisation Plus – How to Guide, co-developed with Vietnamese partners to introduce a structured commercialization process to Vietnamese research institutes; Reports and econometric models have been developed to provide policymakers in Vietnam with technical support and introduce lessons learned from Australia and the rest of the world.

Australia is committed to continuing to support Vietnam’s science, technology and innovation agenda, and is looking to extend the Aus4Innovation Program to 2027. By enhancing the agility and resilience of the economy through technolgy application and innovation embracement, Australia wishes to contribute to an innovation-led economy and the inclusive and sustainable development of Vietnam.