Draft guidance on the High Technology Law: Shaping Vietnam's future technology development strategy

The Law on High Technology 2025 (effective from July 1, 2026) identifies the development of high technology and strategic technology as a strategic breakthrough for rapid and sustainable socio-economic development and improving national technological autonomy. On that basis, the Draft Decree detailing a number of articles and measures for the implementation of the Law on High Technology[1] ("Draft") continues to concretize many important contents related to high-tech research and development, high-tech enterprises, high-tech research and development centers, etc  hi-tech parks, as well as the state management mechanism for high-tech activities. In general, the Draft shows that Vietnam not only wants to attract investment or application of high technology, but also aims to gradually master, exploit and commercialize technology.

Policies to promote research are only effective when there is a subject capable of realizing research results into products.

Below are the four main pillars of the strategy expressed in the Draft.

The State changes the way it manages high-tech activities

If in the past, the State mainly performed the function of administrative management and established legal corridors, the Draft shows that the State currently tends to actively accompany and share risks with enterprises in high-tech research and development activities.

This approach stems from the fact that high-tech operations require high costs, high levels of risk, and long payback cycles. Without support and guarantees from the State, businesses will find it difficult to be motivated to invest in high-risk fields such as technology. To handle this problem, the Draft establishes a relatively comprehensive system of support policies, including a mechanism for ordering funding from science, technology and innovation programs; support from science and technology development funds; tax incentives; import tax exemption for machinery, equipment, spare parts and special-use supplies, specialized scientific documents and books and newspapers directly used for hi-tech research and development activities; human resource support; support intellectual property and commercialization.[2]  This policy not only focuses on the initial research stage, but also covers from research, development, protection of intellectual property rights, valuation, exploitation, transfer, commercialization to the formation of a high-tech research and development center.

Establishing business criteria in the direction of enhancing substantive capacity

Policies to promote research are only effective when there is a subject capable of realizing research results into products. On that basis, the Draft pays significant attention to the establishment of criteria for identifying high-tech enterprises, in the direction of promoting substantive capacity instead of form.

The draft classifies high-tech enterprises into many groups, with the requirement to gradually increase according to priority.[3]  Enterprises that want to be recognized in a higher group and enjoy greater incentives must meet stricter criteria in terms of the proportion of revenue from high-tech products, the level of investment in research and development, the quality of human resources, as well as the ability to master technology and localize.

The inclusion of the localization rate and the ability to master technology as criteria in high groups shows that the State wants to clearly distinguish between enterprises that truly create domestic technological value and enterprises that only carry out the assembly and processing stages on the basis of imported technology. This also requires businesses to prove their capacity with specific records and figures on revenue, research costs and human resources, rather than just relying on the registered industry.

The technology development strategy is also reflected in the change in the positioning of the role of high-tech parks.

Draft repositioning of high-tech parks

The technology development strategy is also reflected in the change in the positioning of the role of high-tech parks. According to the orientation of the Law on High Technology 2025 and the Draft, high-tech parks under the new model will no longer be a concentrated area for large-scale industrial production activities as before.[4] Instead, the high-tech park is repositioned as a center of research, incubation and training activities. The state budget is prioritized for the construction of research and development facilities, laboratories of international standards, technology and enterprise incubators, as well as high-level human resource training institutions. This is a step to transform itself from the role of a production area to the role of a center for the production of knowledge and endogenous technological capacity. This change reflects a reassessment of the role of high-tech parks in the value chain. The old model, which attracted large-scale manufacturing projects, contributed to growth and employment, but the high value-added portion, which lies in research, design and technology ownership, often still belongs to foreign actors. By repositioning the high-tech park as a research center, the State aims to retain this core value in the country.

Enhancing strategic technology development

According to the Law on High Technology 2025, strategic technology is a breakthrough and pervasive technology, which is determined by the State to focus on investment and development in order to strengthen technological autonomy, create national competitive advantages and ensure national defense and security.

For this group of technologies, the Draft establishes a support mechanism at a significantly higher level than conventional high technology.[5] Strategic technologies are allocated their own national programs with specific mechanisms, are prioritized for larger budget resources, enjoy higher levels of credit support, and are entitled to special mechanisms such as technology decoding, purchase of technology and technological know-how from abroad for research, etc  ownership, and the right to participate in reserved testing areas.

This shows that the State wants to implement both simultaneously: raising the level of common technology through policies for high technology, as well as increasing development resources for a number of key technologies. This approach reflects a clear strategic choice: instead of allocating resources that are spread out and difficult to make breakthroughs, the State focuses on investing in a number of key technology groups to create a long-term competitive advantage. The goal is not only economic growth, but also to reduce dependence on foreign technology, replace imports, expand exports and ensure national technological autonomy.

Conclusion

The draft guidance of the High Technology Law shows a relatively consistent and well-oriented technology development strategy, built on four closely interconnected pillars. These four pillars both open up opportunities and set new requirements for the business community. Substantive preferential and supportive policies are gradually forming for businesses that seriously invest in research and technology; At the same time, the criteria for being recognized and enjoying incentives will also increasingly require specific proven capacity. In that context, early identification of policy orientations, assessment of the ability to meet expected criteria and preparation of appropriate capacity foundations will be important factors to help businesses proactively take advantage of opportunities when the policy officially takes effect from July 1, 2026.

Nguyen Thi Kieu Khanh - Bui Hoang Nhat Minh

HM&P Law Firm

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