Hanoi (VNA) - Innovation has been seen as a tool to boost socio-economicdevelopment in Vietnam, said Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh ata conference on innovation in Hanoi.

Theconference was co-held by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation(WIPO) on the occasion of WIPO Director General Francis Gurry’s visit toVietnam from March 21-23.

According to WIPO’s release of theglobal innovation index 2016, Vietnam was ranked 59th out of 128 countries andeconomies in terms of innovation, maintaining its top place amonglower-middle-income economies, Anh said.

Vietnam scores high points in theInnovation Output Sub-Index capturing knowledge and technology outputs andcreative outputs, with lower scores in the Innovation Input Sub-Index featuringbusiness climate, rankings of universities, rate of skilled female labourers,and ICT services exports and imports, he added.

Theminister said that in the past years, Vietnam’s intellectual property systemhas made significant progress, contributing to the development of science andtechnology in particular and socio-economic growth in general.

Thecountry has created a legal system compatible with the world’s standards, anetwork of agencies establishing and exercising intellectual property rights aswell as mechanisms promoting the commercialisation of intellectual property, henoted.

Atthe conference, WIPO experts introduced methods to collect data and calculateinnovation index as well as solutions to improving innovation and innovationindex in Vietnam.-VNA