Basic Research and National Goals: The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology in an Emerging Innovation System

Abstract

The mission of the National Center for Scientific Research set up in the 1970s included an ambition to address the core problem of responding to society’s needs. With reforms in the early 1990s, there was an attempt to reorient the activities of the renamed National Center for Natural Science and Technology in response to the Đổi mới policies of economic liberalization. The optimism of the scientists regarding the opportunities for external sources of income from research contracts and commercialization of technology through entrepreneurial ventures only materialized to a limited extent. During the 21^st Century, the leadership of the scientific organization – now called the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology – and the Vietnamese Government have reiterated mission priorities for serving the society and establishing a key role in the innovation system. The recent five years have witnessed some improvement in this respect, however, with the consolidation of a legal framework and the establishment of new funding mechanisms for research and innovation. The lack of consistent orientation among scientists towards exploring and developing the utility of scientific research (i.e., Pasteur’s quadrant), and the absence of psychological and material incentives for linkages with potential users and markets also hampered commercialization; those who ventured into the marketplace with their services for products had little experience about scaling up of production, marketing, or other aspects of business.