Workers produce printed circuit boards at a factory of the Korean-invested Synopex Vina2 Co. Ltd in the Yen Phong Industrial Park, Bac Ninh province. (Photo: VNA)

The move is part of the MST’s efforts to press on with perfecting the legal corridor for promoting the development of science, technology, and innovation as Vietnam is paying more attention to these areas.

The new decree, which will amend Decree No. 95/2014/ND-CP, will include contents related to funding for the repair and upgrade of public assets, spending on the development of scientific and technological potential, and investment in and support for the construction of technical infrastructure for science and technology organisations.

Some regulations on expenditure of State-owned science and technology organisations will also be revised. The draft will add rules to the procurement of equipment and machinery serving the organisations' regular and specialised activities.

Spending on innovation-related activities will also be stipulated, including developing start-up and innovation ecosystems, innovation centres, startup and innovation support centres and innovation networks, building governance capacity and new business and innovation models, along with training and consulting.

In 2023, spending on science and technology accounted for 0.82% of the State budget’s total expenditures, including 0.23% on investment and 0.58% on regular expenditures. The total sum declined from 1.01% in 2022 and 1.18% in 2017, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat noted there is a relatively big gap in the budget expenditure on science and technology between Vietnam and other countries. For example, in 2017, the spending stood at 2.83% in the US, 1.96% in China, 2.6% in Singapore, and 1.25% in Malaysia.

Last year, the State Budget’s regular expenditure on science and technology totalled 12 trillion VND (over 478 million USD), comprising 8.8 trillion VND from the central budget and about 3.2 trillion VND from local budgets, he added.