The decision, which will take effect in the middle of this month, will allow individuals to establish their own organisations in seven science and technology fields, including: natural science, social science, human science, technical and technological science, medical science, agricultural science, and science and technology services.

"The decision opens the door for everyone to take part in science and technology by reducing the limits they face when doing scientific research or inventing things in the seven fields included in the Prime Minister’s decision," said Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan.

Professor Do Ngoc Chau from the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology said that Viet Nam had more than 20,000 professors and doctors, but only 10,000 had done significant research or invented something, the minimum requirement for being considered a scientist.

Professor Tran Xuan Hoai of the Ministry of Science and Technology said: "It is time for all people in society to participate in the development of science and technology so that the country can catch up with others in this field."

Under the decision, individuals must be responsible for the activities of their organisations, which will fall under the Law of Science and Technology and others.

During its operation, if the organisation develops opposing ideas to existing Party and State science and technology policies, it is not permitted to publicise these views as a science organisation but must send them to relevant agencies for consideration.

The ministry will be responsible for providing detailed guidance regarding the procedures for individuals to establish their own science organisations.

Quan said the chances for these organisations to access State science topics or research programs would be fair and equal. Organisations might win State funded projects through the bidding process. The jury would base its decision on the organisational profiles, research experience, staff and equipment of the bidding organisations.

"It is necessary to encourage the establishment of numerous private and State science organisations to create competition among them, leading to the development of science and technology in the country," he said.

Guidance circular

The ministry has published a guidance circular for individuals to easily implement the decision.

Prime Minister Dung asked the Ministry of Science and Technology, in co-operation with city and provincial-level people’s committees, to monitor the science organisations to ensure their activities follow the law.

Nguyen Quoc Vong from the Agriculture University noted that up to 70 per cent of the country’s population is involved in agriculture, so farmers should contribute to any science for inventing the machines to help their work.

"They need the basic science and technology knowledge to develop the inventions on their own. They know what types of machines and technologies will help them do their jobs much faster and easier," said Vong.

A lot of Vietnamese farmers have invented machines to improve productivity and yields, and save time and energy.

Associate Professor Bui Thien Son of the Science and Technology Strategy and Policy Institute said that each year, Viet Nam invests US$5 per capita in developing science and technology, accounting for 2 per cent of its total expenses. South Korea spends $1,000 per capita and China spends $20.

Total science and technology expenses are currently only two times higher than 20 years ago.

Deputy Minister Quan said that with such low financing, high-quality inventions can not be required.

"However, in recent years the country’s science and technology has had encouraging results with a number of international-level inventions and scientific reports. Some inventions have contributed to socio-economic fields such as research of genetically modified plants, stem cells, and high-yield rice or coffee," he said.

Le Cong Danh and his colleagues at the Transport University’s Mechanics Department have successfully created a robot that can replace workers to do welding in dangerous places.

"The idea was initiated on trips we made to study welding technology in mechanical factories. The factories can save a lot of money with these robots," said Danh.

Last year Viet Nam launched its first telecommunications satellite and the country started constructing a nuclear power plant.

Deputy Minister Quan said that if the country only based its science and technology development on the State budget, it would not catch up with other countries or meet the demands of social development. Lessons from other countries such as South Korea and China showed a lot of participation from the people in science and technology development resulted in high growth.

In China, the investment in science and technology among the population doubles the state budget, while in South Korea the number is 10 times higher, according to the deputy minister.

Son said that at this moment, society’s funding for science and technology, including enterprises, is only one-fifth of the State budget while the figure in China was three times higher.

In the near future, the ministry plans to form a mechanism to attract enterprises to invest in science and technology which would require enterprises to use at least 2 per cent of their turnover for studying and upgrading the science and technology they use.

The new income tax law for enterprises also stipulates that enterprises are allowed to use up to 10 per cent of pre-tax profits for science and technology development.

If enterprises strictly save this amount each year, there would be more than VND13,000 trillion ($722 million) for science and technology, two times higher than the State budget allotment.

Professor Pham Hung Viet from the Ha Noi National University said that a clear and specific finance mechanism for entrusting scientific projects, managing their costs and supervising project quality should be set up soon so that well-qualified scientists with creative ideas would get orders from the State or enterprises to respond to social demands.