There will be new breakthroughs now that the High-Tech Law became effective on July 1, 2009,” said Dr. Nguyen Van Lang, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology

Dr. Nguyen Van Lang, the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology and the Head of the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park Authority

HBI has 13 teams and 8 companies that have so far created about 30 products. Of these, many have practical applications. For example, the Green Joint Stock Company created nearly 10 products including LTH 100 that treats pollution in rivers and lakes. The AI Vietnam Company has a full range of products.

At this time, several people who have doctoral degrees from Germany are making pineapple extracts and ant-egg powder extract which is to be available soon. In the near future we will examine and appraise teams and the companies to see how good they really are. Although we don’t have the statistics, I can say that many companies are making money selling their products. LTH 100 of the Green Joint Stock Company is a hot seller and production cannot keep up with the demand. AI Vietnam earned VND20 billion annually from its online schooling which has attracted 6,000 visitors a day.

Apart from applicable products, in the HBI there are also teams that are doing basic research such as that on stem cells. How is that going?

You are referring to the research team directed by Dr. Bui Xuan Nguyen. They are making progress but stem cell research is a long-term endeavor. And we do plan to set up a private, modern research area for their research.

Conventional wisdom holds that a business will leave HBI after it attains a degree of success. Is this necessarily so?

In other parts of the world one can see that incubated businesses move on within five years. There are, however, exceptions. For example, several companies in the Republic of Korea stayed with a high-tech business incubator for more than 10 years. But generally they do move on. The Green Joint Stock Company and AI Vietnam are expected to leave HBI in the near future and the Kim Cuong Company has already left.

How does HBI benefit in its role as ’midwife’ to high-tech businesses?

For now, we don’t mind benefits to us. They make products, sell them and get all the profit. We just create a work environment for them, help them solve difficulties and give them investment advice. Seriously, the national strategy is to incubate about one hundred businesses at the same time. Then incubated high-tech businesses will leave HBI and work independently, contributing to the development in the country.

It seems that HBI is still very ’quiet’…

Many businesses have applied to be a part of HBI but we have had to say ’no’ to them because we just don’t have the infrastructure. Our plan is to have a 4.1 ha area ready to go in 2010, at a cost of about VND200 billion, to host high-tech businesses and meet their needs for research and production.

There are a lot of high-tech business incubation centers in Vietnam. Are they all operating as non-profits? They seem to function differently. Would you explain that?

Any business group can establish what could be called an incubator, and that usually becomes a subsidiary company. In Vietnam there are no laws, standards or legal corridors for high-tech business incubators. Once such laws are in place, I hope that everything will run smoother.

How would you compare HBI to other high-tech business incubators in Vietnam?

Of the 20 high-tech business incubation centers in Vietnam, HBI in the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park is the best.

How will the High-tech Law, which in a way is now in effect, affect high-tech parks in general and high-tech business incubators in particular?

I believe that there are no high-tech laws in any country. At this time I don’t know how this Vietnamese High-tech Law will affect anything. I think that its almost meant to create legal corridors and directions for high-tech development and application.

But won’t this law have some affect on high-tech businesses?

Well, for now this is just a law on paper. Until guidance decrees are issued we can only guess. I am sure that the law will prioritize high-tech parks.

Who do you think will receive assistance or what we could call priorities?

Those involved in manpower training would be one area. Universities have got to start offering high-tech classes and degrees. Those who invest in high-tech parks/projects will also obtain priorities. And I expect that high-tech businesses will be given ample tax breaks.

How were high-tech parks conceived and designed?

Before the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park was built we visited many high-tech parks in foreign countries, and they vary widely. Silicon Valley in the US is very different from Hsinchu in Chinese Taipei, and high-tech parks in Japan differ from those in India and the Republic of Korea. We visited many places and made the comparisons. I think the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park is similar in many ways to high-tech parks in China and Chinese Taipei in that they link research and production. Up until now, teachers, researchers and producers have done whatever they do quite separately in Vietnam. We want to connect the classroom, researchers and producers.

Do you think that you will succeed?
Indubitably.

VietNamNet/VEN