Vietnam’s Politburo promotes Resolution 57 to increase protection of IP while supporting use in raising finance

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The Vietnamese government is putting its weight behind Resolution 57, in an attempt to raise the profile of intellectual property rights within the country, modernise the IP protection system, and eventually allow IP to be used to raise finance.

Speaking at a meeting with Vietnam’s National Office of Intellectual Property last week, Nguyen Manh Hung, the country’s Minister of Science and Technology, said that encouraging the development of new IP, and then protecting the innovations that are created, is key to developing a “research-investment-production ecosystem.”

According to Vietnamese media site Vietnam.net, Hung told the meeting:

“Intellectual property protection is the foundation for commercialization and attracting investment in science and technology. Research results must become assets that can be valued, transferred, leased, or used as collateral to access capital, forming a market for research outcomes. Only a market can sustain long-term growth in science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation.”

Countries around the world are exploring ways to support the use of IP as collateral in bank lending; in the last year, the Bahamas, Uganda, Nepal, and Scotland have all proposed or passed legislation to better facilitate the use of IP value in IP-backed finance.

Resolution 57 was adopted by the Politburo in December 2024, but recently it has been getting a lot of media coverage in Vietnam and outside,

In 2024, IP Viet Nam reported 9,573 patent/utility solution applications had been examined and granted, an increase of 17.1% compared to 2023. The total number of national and international industrial design applications received in 2024 was 3,796, a 1.6% increase compared to 2023. And 64,091 trade mark applications were processed, an increase of 21.5% compared to 2023.

However, experts recognise that properly commercialising IP rights requires those rights to be based on high-quality research.

Under Resolution 57, Vietnam’s government is committing to allocating 2% of GDP annually to science and technology, with 60% of this investment coming from enterprises who will directly engage in innovation and product development.