VietNamNet Bridge – With the Silicon Valley model suggested for Vietnam, scientists will not only work as the experts in their ranges of expertise, but also as the businessmen who develop products commercially on their inventions.

Silicon Valley idealists crash into reality in spy row

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) has officially kicked off the technology on technology commercialization in accordance with the US Silicon Valley model.

It is also trying to build a venture fund by 2014 which would help the Vietnamese Silicon Valley project succeed in Vietnam.

Like the US Silicon Valley which was the “nursery garden” for the US big technology groups like Google and Microsoft to grow up, Vietnam hopes the silicon valley of its own would also help generate the big guys in the technology field.

Thousands of research works and inventions are made every year in Vietnam by universities, research centers and institutes, domestic and foreign organizations and individuals. However, only a small proportion of the inventions have been developed commercially.

MST hopes that the Silicon Valley project would help effectively exploit the intellectual property, encourage the commercialization of scientific research works and utilize the inventions in reality.

The purpose of the project is creating an ecosystem comprising of start-ups which are trained to upgrade the products of their own, receive advices to attract venture capital to successfully build up science & technology enterprises.

Successful science & technology enterprises are understood as the enterprises which can make the products meeting the market demand, having feasible business strategies and the capable workforce to implement the strategies.

The project also aims at generating an environment to attract the grey matter through the building of a BA system, which comprises successful businessmen, venture investors, lawyers and technology experts from the US Silicon Valley.

When asked “why the US silicon valley, not Russian or Japanese?”, MST Minister Nguyen Quan said that the US model has been very successful because it can give the motivation for scientists to work and invent. As it serves as the place where venture investors and scientists can meet, it could be the incubators for science and technology companies to grow up.

Silicon Valley is the place from which high technologies and new technologies are sourced and utilized widely globally. Venture funds prove to be most successful at Silicon Valley. Therefore, Quan said, MST has invited the experts from Silicon Valley and the US, including the Vietnamese experts, to work as the advisors to the national program.

Regarding the venture fund MST tries to set up, Quan said that the model of venture funds has been mentioned in the High Technology Law. However, due to some relating issues covered by other laws, including the State Budget Law, it’s still impossible to invest in venture funds.

In the immediate time, Vietnam will welcome and mobilize the capital from all organizations and individuals who have capital and accept risks, and to set up a venture fund in accordance with the US Silicon Valley’s model.

Quan does not think that the poor conditions in Vietnam would be the obstacle to the Vietnamese Silicon Valley project, though he admitted that Vietnam, a developing country, cannot make heavy state investment in the science and technology development.

Quan believes the success of the project depends on how businesses and scientists take interest in the project and if Vietnam has a reasonable mechanism to develop a venture fund which can help the research works.

Binh Minh