With an active role in the implementation of strategic objectives to create innovation in science and technology from internal capacity, the Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) has become a leading research centre of Ho Chi Minh City in particular and of the country in general. Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Mr Le Hoai Quoc, Director of the Management Board of SHTP about the high-tech development of Ho Chi Minh City. Kien Cuong reports.
Could you please share more about the impressive performance of SHTP, especially in 2013?
With the funding of the US$1 billion project of the Intel Corp., the world’s leading semi-conductor and other research and production projects from other multinational technology corporations such as Nidec (Japan), Sanofi (France), Datalogic Scanning (Italy), and Sonion (Denmark), SHTP has proved itself as a good destination to attract foreign investment in high-tech fields of Vietnam. Not only creating a favourable environment to attract foreign investment in high technologies, SHTP also attracts Vietnamese companies such as FPT- a multinational information technology company, Hutech Institute, and the Vietnam Petroleum Institute, which all have investment projects worth millions of dollars in SHTP.
Particularly in 2013, SHTP attracted six more high-tech projects with a total capital of US$236.8 million. Totally, SHTP attracted 59 valid projects with a total investment of US$2.2 billion. Among the projects, are 38 active ones with total export value of US$6946.6 million and creating over 18,000 jobs.
In particular, in 2013, the research projects of the Microchip, the Hutech Institute, and FPT Training and Research Centre, which focus on developing high technology and training high qualified personnel of the international and national scientific and technology units, account for large proportion of total capital investment. Typically, SHTP has put the Microsoft Innovation Centre (SMIC), the only creative centre of Microsoft in Vietnam, into operation. This marks an important step in the process of economic restructuring of SHTP. SMIC acts as an incubator to encourage and develop innovative ideas and value-added solutions based on the Microsoft’s technologies. Besides, SMIC is also functioned to set up networks of cooperation among the technology partners, government institutions and education and training units, and determine the strategies and tendencies of the core information technology to support the key projects of the technological innovation.
With such success, is it undeniable that SHTP has played a very important role for the development of theHo Chi Minh City?
To establish a high-tech park with 38 large enterprises with high performance thus far, Ho Chi Minh City has displaced more than 3,000 households to create a good area to call for investment. Also, Ho Chi Minh City has managed to create an attractive investment environment for well-known high-tech investors such as Intel and Nidec.
Currently, SHTP is a leading high-tech park, which attracts nation-class and world-class scientists and high-tech businesses to invest in production and research areas, contributing to the development of the science and technology of the City and the country as a whole. As a result, the high-tech made-in-Vietnam products, originating from the high-tech park, have made an important contribution to local GDP growth. More importantly, SHTP has made an important contribution to the process of economic restructuring pursuant to the policies of the City, which aim to increase the proportion of the high-tech industries and high-tech services and gradually enhance the proportion of science and technology through high-tech products such as chipset (Intel), Digital Gradient Sensing (DGS), printers (Jabil), bar code reading device (Datalogic), smart card types (MK, VTC), pharmaceuticals and medicines (Nanogen), and step motor for DVD players and digital cameras (Nidec Sankyo). Besides, SHTP also helps to improve a number of mechanisms and investment policies of the City to encourage the corporations to invest in the high-tech sectors and core industries in order to achieve the objectives of the industrialization and modernization of the country.
There are many challenges facing SHTP on the way to become a powerful high-tech centre of Ho Chi Minh City and the country, what solutions will SHTP take to overcome such challenges?
After 11 years of development, SHTP has received great support from departments in all levels and high appraisal of the experts as well as the domestic and foreign businesses. It is recognised as a reliable destination for the high-tech investment nationwide. With a desire to improve its performance, SHTP is targeting to complete the goal of “building and developing the high-tech park into a powerful high-tech centre of the City and the country by 2020. This is also under the development vision and mission of the Politburo.
to make SHTP a special economic and technological zone. Besides, the high-tech park continues to attract projects in high technology and high technology services with a particular focus on the projects of research and development, training and high technology incubation in the area of 93 ha of four priority industries (microelectronics, information technology, telecommunications; precision engineering and automation; new materials and advanced nanotechnology; application of biotechnology in medicine, environment). SHTP also makes its best efforts to attract the investment and high-tech products and gather intellectuals to create research milestones to master technology and reach out to the world.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
