Viet Nam puts people at center of innovation process

The Government chief made the above statement in his pre-recorded remarks at the launching ceremony of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index 2024 held in Geneve, Switzerland on September 26.

Innovation is an inevitable trend, a strategic choice, and a top priority for countries in their pursuit of rapid and sustainable development while ensuring that no one is left behind, said Prime Minister Pham.

"We firmly oppose any form of innovation that fuels warfare or fosters unhealthy competition, especially those afflicting the lives of people around the world. Therefore, we uphold an explicit stance that innovation must be people-centered and people-owned, of which the people are truly beneficiaries," said Pham.

"Moreover, it is imperative for us to recognize that innovation is impacting everyone and every aspect of life across the globe, including socio-economic development. Thus, to promote innovation, we must adopt a global and whole-of-people approach with emphasis placed on multilateralism and international cooperation," he added.

Pham called on wealthier, more developed countries and those endowed with greater resources to extend their support, assistance, and create favorable conditions for developing countries, less developed countries, and those facing greater challenges.

Such support can be channeled through institutional building, financial incentives, high-quality human resource training, advanced technology transfer, and sharing of smart governance practices, the Vietnamese Prime Minister suggested.

The Government chief emphasized that Viet Nam identifies training-education and science-technology as the key priorities of our national polities, in which innovation is considered a driving force, a resource, and a goal of development.

With such significance, innovation will be among meaningful contribution to our cause of national construction and defense, as well as our vision of a strong and prosperous Viet Nam where our people are happy and well-off.

Pham took the occasion to thank and appreciate the support of international organizations, including WIPO, as well as scientists and experts, whose cooperation and assistance have been essential to advancing Viet Nam's innovation for rapid and sustainable development.

This year's GII ranks the innovation performance of 133 economies, showcasing their innovation strengths and weaknesses.

It takes the pulse of innovation against a background of steady but slow global economic growth, shrinking innovation finance and sluggish productivity.

Viet Nam ranks 44 out of 133 economies on the GII 2024, up two places compared to 2023./.