Editor’s note: As Vietnam moves forward on its development journey, the knowledge held by ethnic minority communities is not merely a heritage to be preserved. When connected with science, technology and markets, it can become a resource for creating new value.

From terraced rice fields, medicinal plants and sacred forests to digital transformation and artificial intelligence, Associate Professor Be Trung Anh - a full-time National Assembly deputy serving on the 16th National Assembly’s Committee for Deputy Affairs and a standing member of the 15th National Assembly’s Ethnic Council - offers a different perspective on the role of ethnic minority intellectuals: they should not only venture beyond their communities to succeed, but also bring the values of those communities into the mainstream of modern development.

As Vietnam enters a new stage of development, how do you view ethnic minority intellectuals not merely as a social group but as a “development resource”? What distinctive value can they contribute to the country?

I believe we need to go beyond seeing ethnic minority intellectuals simply as a pool of officials who need to be trained to serve ethnic minority areas.

They represent a distinctive intellectual resource for the country because they have the potential to bring together two systems of knowledge: modern knowledge and the knowledge of the communities into which they were born.

An ethnic minority forestry expert may know how to interpret resource maps using GIS technology while also understanding why a particular community forest must never be exploited.

A pharmaceutical researcher may be able to analyze active compounds in a laboratory, but finding the medicinal plant in the first place may require starting with the memories of a woman in a remote village.

The value lies precisely in this ability to translate between different systems of knowledge.

I have previously cited the example of terraced rice fields. Viewed purely through the lens of production, they are simply places where rice is grown. But when connected with landscape, culture and tourism, the same fields can generate multiple layers of value.

Someone who understands both indigenous culture and the modern economy will recognize that potential sooner.

That is why I do not want ethnic minority intellectuals to become merely people who have “successfully left the mountains.”

What the country needs more are people capable of bringing the values of mountainous communities into the mainstream of modern development without stripping them of their identity.

If community knowledge is the “source,” and ethnic minority intellectuals are those capable of unlocking it and connecting it with modern knowledge, what should Vietnam do to turn this distinctive form of capital into a driver of national development?

First, we need to fundamentally change one assumption: communities are not merely recipients of knowledge. They are also places where knowledge is created.

Once we recognize that, policies toward ethnic minority intellectuals must also change.

Scholarships, recruitment programs and training for officials alone are not enough. I believe we need an innovation ecosystem designed around challenges originating in ethnic minority areas.

For example, if a young intellectual wants to study indigenous plant varieties, medicinal herbs, traditional architecture, water resources or handicrafts, or digitize their ethnic language, they should have access to data, small research grants, expert support and places where their ideas can be tested.

If that research produces a viable product, there should be incubators, businesses, markets and intellectual property protection mechanisms to help commercialize it.

Most importantly, when that knowledge originates within a community, the community must be able to participate, receive recognition and share in the benefits.

I very much hope that one day we will have “living laboratories” within ethnic minority communities themselves, where universities, businesses, local authorities and residents work together to solve specific local problems.

An indigenous plant variety could move from community knowledge to the laboratory, from the laboratory to product standards, and from a finished product to international markets.

At that point, ethnic minority intellectuals would no longer simply stand between their villages and the outside world, relaying information back and forth.

They would become organizers of an entirely new value-creation chain.

The source of knowledge has existed for generations. Our task is to open a channel for it to flow into the country’s knowledge economy.

How should ethnic minority intellectuals change their mindset in this new era so they become not merely recipients of outside knowledge, but creators of knowledge and solutions for their own communities and the country?

There is a crucial shift that needs to take place: from “studying to escape a disadvantaged area” to “studying so the place where I was born is no longer disadvantaged.”

For generations, the conventional path to advancement was to leave one’s village in search of knowledge and opportunity. That was entirely legitimate.

But the digital age offers another possibility: a young person can remain in a highland village and still connect with the entire world.

Then the question is no longer simply, “What does the world have for us to learn?”

We must add another: “What does our homeland have that the world does not yet know?”

A traditional remedy, an indigenous plant variety, a method of conserving water, a collection of folk tales, a farming technique or a philosophy of living in harmony with nature can all become subjects for research, innovation and development.

Ethnic minority intellectuals in this new era, therefore, should not stand at the receiving end of the flow of knowledge.

They need to stand at the source of new knowledge.

As an ethnic minority intellectual involved in parliamentary work, how do you view the role of ethnic minority intellectuals as a “bridge” between communities, scientists, businesses and the policymaking process?

I remain somewhat cautious about the word “bridge.”

A bridge helps other people cross. I want ethnic minority intellectuals to go one step further: they should participate in designing the road itself.

Their role should not simply be to carry the “voices of ethnic minority people” into the National Assembly.

More importantly, they need to transform lived experience into a policy issue, turn a need into a right, and then translate that right into provisions that can actually be implemented.

Let me give you an example from the National Assembly.

When the National Assembly discussed revisions to the Land Law, I paid particular attention to land policies affecting ethnic minority communities.

The draft at the time had set out relatively clear principles on ensuring access to residential and production land.

But I raised another question: if the law merely states the principle without establishing a mechanism for creating a land fund, how can that right actually be exercised?

During the November 2023 debate, I proposed establishing a specific legal framework for creating land reserves for ethnic minority communities. Without it, a perfectly valid policy objective could remain on paper.

In an earlier debate, I also asked why land allocated to ethnic minority people should be viewed only as land for “agricultural production.”

A terraced rice field in Sa Pa grows rice, but it also creates a landscape and can generate livelihoods through tourism.

If the law sees only the grain of rice without recognizing the economic value of the landscape and culture, policy can inadvertently narrow people’s development opportunities.

I tell this story to make the point that the role of ethnic minority intellectuals is not simply to carry the “voices of ethnic minority people” into the National Assembly.

More importantly, they need to transform lived experience into a policy issue, turn a need into a right, and then translate that right into provisions that can actually be implemented.

The reverse direction is equally important.

When science, businesses or government policy enter a community, ethnic minority intellectuals must help outsiders understand that what exists there is not merely a collection of resources waiting to be exploited.

There is history. There is memory. There are social structures, sacred spaces and cultural boundaries that must be respected.

If all you do is relay messages, you are an intermediary.

But if you help all sides see the same reality and jointly design its future, that is the role I hope ethnic minority intellectuals will fulfill.

Thai An