The Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) is currently drafting a strategic policy to accelerate industrial transformation through a proposed loan interest subsidy of up to 50 percent. This step is aimed at business actors committed to investing in the application, transfer, and innovation of the latest technology. Integrated into the National Technological Innovation Fund (NATIF), this program is designed to ease the burden of capital costs for companies bold enough to make an innovative leap.
Under the proposed scheme, the government has set a maximum subsidy limit of 6 percent per year with a loan tenor of five years. As a simulation, if a company has a credit agreement with an interest rate of 10 percent, the government will cover 5 percent of it. This policy will undergo a trial phase involving 20 selected companies before being broadly implemented for businesses meeting strict criteria, such as economic efficiency and potential positive impact on the national technology ecosystem.
Minister of Science and Technology, Vu Hai Quan, emphasized that this policy stems from the real needs of the business sector. He stressed that business actors must be the main engine in the innovation ecosystem. With this incentive, companies are expected to increase labor productivity while gaining the financial courage to adopt more advanced and strategic technologies.
More than just capital assistance, the government projects that this policy will create a 'leverage' effect, mobilizing social credit capital into the innovation sector. This is seen as the right step to ensure a more efficient use of the state budget while strengthening the position of local businesses amid global economic competition that increasingly relies on advances in science and technology.
