Ms. Chu Van Hai, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology, speaks at the conference
At the seminar, Ms. Chu Van Hai, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology emphasized the significant role of digital transformation in Ho Chi Minh City from now to 2030 with a focus on developing research on science and technology in enterprises in compliance with the provisions of law.
According to statistics, currently, 124 businesses in Ho Chi Minh City have been allocating an amount of VND4,400 billion for establishing funds and the amount of money used for the fund is VND1,353 billion. In fact, the allocated amount of VND4,400 billion has not met the city's expectations, the number of businesses setting up the fund is not commensurate with the development of the city and the benefits of the fund have not been spread to the business community.
Over the past time, the enterprise's science and technology development fund has been implemented and achieved certain results. However, there are still many limitations and inadequacies such as complicated fund use procedures and low disbursement of funds. Many businesses have established funds, but do not fully understand the legal procedures to operate and disburse funds.
According to Mr. Phan Quoc Tuan, Deputy Head of the Technology Management Department, Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City, the setting up of the Science and Technology fund aims to support enterprises to improve their technological capacity. Enterprises established and operating under Vietnamese law may deduct a maximum of 10 percent of their annual taxable income to set up a science and technology development fund, of which state enterprises must deduct from 3 percent to 10 percent.
The Science and Technology Development Fund is used to buy facilities for the operation of enterprises such as information infrastructure equipment, quality management system, purchasing use rights, computer programs, solutions to rationalize production, and technology innovation.
Firms face difficulties and obstacles in using the science and technology development fund because they have just declared and reported to tax administration agencies without sending the establishment decision to the Department of Science and Technology. There is no sanction for the reporting of the establishment and use of the fund, leading to incomplete statistics on the number of enterprises establishing the fund. In addition, some businesses have not dared to use the fund because they do not understand the financial settlement procedures, Mr. Tuan said.
Mr. Phi Anh Tuan from the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Support and Consulting Center (DX Center), said that digital transformation is building digital assets and digital resources in enterprises while applying technology to run the business to increase production capacity, sales capacity and technology participation. In fact, many newly-established businesses are presently still lacking strategy and planning on digital transformation, and lack of prioritization for the digital transformation process.
At the seminar, Mr. Le Thanh Binh, Deputy General Director in charge of SaviPharm's science and technology division, revealed that the company has not set up a science and technology fund because the fund really has not supported much for private enterprises but mainly supported state-owned enterprises.
However, according to him, digital transformation in enterprises has brought great economic benefits to the company. Currently, the company is carrying out digital transformation in a few small projects, such as applying technology at the sales and online ordering stages of pharmacies to reduce the workload for employees. In addition, the company has also applied technology to the stage of goods management and operation, and e-office.
