English version machine-translated from the Vietnamese original — under review.
"Double-Digit" GDP – What Do SMEs Want?
To achieve sustainable GDP growth of over 10%, the focus must shift from "selling labor, processing and assembly" to creating value added based on technology and innovation. Many studies show that innovative SMEs are far more likely to export, raise productivity and contribute to growth than SMEs that serve only the domestic market or do contract processing and assembly…. As SMEs participate more deeply in global value chains, the share of domestic value added in exports increases, the trade deficit narrows and the current account improves, thereby directly affecting the C + I + G + (X - M) components of the GDP formula.
State Policies SMEs Hope to See Implemented
- R&D and innovation policies for SMEs
- Establish co-funding schemes for R&D, product innovation and automation (matching grants, tax credits for R&D expenditure, accelerated depreciation of 4.0 equipment)
- Expand "innovation voucher" programs and support for engaging experts, research institutes and universities (a model similar to the EU/OECD).
- Selective financial support
- Credit guarantees and preferential interest rates for SMEs with technology projects, exports or participation in FDI supply chains; link incentives to KPIs for export revenue and local content.
- Develop public–private venture capital funds for technology start‑ups, especially in supporting industries, equipment, software, AI, new materials, and products not yet manufactured domestically...
- Developing SME capabilities and human resources
- Training programs in production, financial and export management for business owners, and scholarships for R&D engineers working at SMEs (the training and voucher model recommended by the OECD).
- Regional/local centers supporting digital transformation and automation for SMEs (demo lines, consulting on Lean, MES, ERP, PLM).
- Supply chain and "local content" policies
- An "SME supplier upgrading" program: auditing, consulting and certification for domestic suppliers to meet the technical standards of FDI, EPC and OEM companies; co-funding budgets for investment in machinery and test laboratories.
- Tendering mechanisms and tax incentives for infrastructure, energy, metro projects, etc. that use a certain proportion of products and engineering services developed by domestic SMEs.
- Institutional and data infrastructure
- Simplify the procedures for registering patents and industrial designs, and cover 50–70% of the cost of domestic and international intellectual property protection for technology SMEs
- A national data platform on supporting-industry enterprises, enabling supply–demand matching and analysis of supply chain gaps so that support is properly targeted.
- Support SMEs in bringing inventions into production through incentive policies on renting production premises, preferential interest rates for raising capital, corporate income tax incentives, etc. (Real incentives, not just on TV)
When the above policies are designed consistently, SMEs will move from assembly and contract processing to their own design, manufacturing and intellectual property; domestic value added in every USD of exports will increase and labor productivity will improve, thereby creating real room to achieve the GDP growth target of >10% without depending on exploiting resources such as "Rare Earths", "Land Plots", "Selling Off Minerals Cheaply", or importing products and technologies from abroad at "Exorbitant" prices...
