Viet Nam Automation Association vice-chairman Trinh Dinh De told Khoa hoc va
Doi song (Science and Life) newspaper Viet Nam could become dependent on foreign
technology if it did not realise its own potential.

When you made suggestions for the Science and Technology Development Strategy
to 2020 and Vision to 2030, you said domestic producers were becoming reliant on
foreign equipment while the local science and technology sector looked on?

That is the reality. Producers need modern equipment to compete, and not because
they want to show off or to use it as decoration. It’s a matter of economic
efficiency.

During integration, we should import when this is the cheaper option. At the
same time, we should produce the technology ourselves if we can.

Are we becoming consumers of technology as well as of consumer goods?

We are consuming foreign goods to a certain extent. This is because we do not
apply a closed-door policy. But we have to acquire world technologies while
developing our own brain power.

But will convenience make us reliant on foreign technology?

While it is true that importing may be cheaper in the short term, dependence is
costly in the long run. For example, when imported technology break downs we
have to bring foreigners in. This could change if we trained capable science and
technology staff.
Is this why you said the domestic science and technology sector was a mere
outsider?

The issue here is not that we lack the capability, and I’m talking about
advanced technology as well. It’s just that the science and technology
development strategy doesn’t address the issue or set out specific criteria to
solve this problem.

Why doesn’t the strategy address this problem?

The overall science and technology development strategy has not yet clearly
defined this issue. For instance, we are yet to pinpoint just how much science
and technology contributes to GDP, percentage wise. But science and technology
play a decisive role in producing goods. And that’s what the gross domestic
product is in essence: the production of goods.

Many people say that our GDP is unstable and that we produce poor quality goods.
To give an example, Viet Nam earns billions of US dollars from the export of
electronic goods. But most of this revenue goes to wholly foreign-invested
companies. The growth in quality remains low because we don’t fully make use of
our intelligentsia.

Could you elaborate?

When it imports equipment, Viet Nam exports unskilled labour and then invites
foreign experts to run and repair high-tech production lines in this country.
However, local automotive technicians could help production lines work at full
capacity. Automation is present everywhere, from cement production and oil
refineries to beer and wine processing. Unfortunately, we are still dependent on
foreign labour.

Are you saying that Viet Nam isn’t keeping pace with other countries?

That’s certainly true of the automation industry. We have to invest in the
industry if we want it to keep up. Automation is one of four priority directions
of our science revolution. When we talk about modernised industry, we mean auto-mation.

You said Viet Nam was exporting unskilled labour. Is this why the Viet Nam
Automation Association has established a high-tech labour training college?

Yes. We are currently building the school after being granted the licence. It
aims to provide and export skilled, technical workers. Viet Nam has exported
several tens of thousands of people but all in the form of unskilled labour. If
technical workers are exported, they will be paid more and benefit from better
conditions. More importantly, they will be able to bring home the technological
know-how that they gain abroad.

Source: VNS