Advantages, Difficulties, Opportunities and Challenges from the Perspective of Knowledge-Based Economic Development in Our Country in the Context of International Integration

knowledge to perform the set tasks more effectively, with better quality, and faster, in order to achieve the goals and in line with the Party's innovation policy. In recent years, in our country, many new models have emerged, which can be called knowledge-based economic models, high-tech agricultural zones, using genetic technology, biotechnology, enterprises based on inventions, new technologies, science and technology enterprises, internet business, value-added services, information technology and communication enterprises... These are the first steps of the knowledge economy, but they are units that know how to absorb new knowledge, new technologies to innovate production and business, bringing about clear results. These examples are to show that the policy of shifting to a market economy, integrating into the world economy, encouraging the development of the private economy..., is truly the driving force for promoting all creative capacities, towards a knowledge economy.

CHAPTER 3

PERSPECTIVES AND APPROACHES TO DEVELOPING KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY IN VIETNAM IN THE CONDITION OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

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3.1 ADVANTAGES, DIFFICULTIES, OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT IN OUR COUNTRY IN THE CONDITION OF INTERNATIONAL INTEGRATION

3.1.1 Advantages in developing knowledge economy in Vietnam

Vietnam has obvious advantages to build and develop a knowledge-based economy compared to many other countries in the region. However, that does not mean that Vietnam does not have potential development disadvantages. It is just that when there are too many advantages, recognizing disadvantages can become more difficult. Historical experience shows that if we do not accurately identify and find solutions to overcome disadvantages, even advantages, they will create huge obstacles to development.

3.1.1.1 Natural and historical advantages: These are factors that, from a modern perspective, Vietnam today enjoys as something available, bestowed by nature and history. In general, our country has many advantages, here, I would like to mention only a few points that need to be emphasized.

Firstly, geographical advantages , Vietnam is considered a "spiritual" land of the region, with a history of more than 4000 years, but has the most favorable natural conditions for development in Vietnam. In terms of history, we have always been the development center of the region. Vietnam's geographical advantages contain potential advantages in terms of economy, culture, society and politics, forming a combination of potential advantages so that we have the unique overall development advantage of a leading development center in the region and the world in all aspects. Based on the geographical and natural advantages, on that basis, forming historical and social development advantages, Vietnam was naturally chosen as an important trading hub of the region and the world, which in turn brought Vietnam other great development advantages.

3.1 below clearly shows the above statement.

Second, in terms of historical and cultural advantages , Vietnam has accumulated historical and cultural strengths. The flow of history inherently contains latent humanistic capacity. Although difficult to define and quantify, world development experience proves that this factor is a basic and especially important starting condition for the process of advancing to a knowledge-based economy.

The more potential cultural and human capacity there is, the easier it will be to catch up with the development of the knowledge economy, and the more opportunities there will be to accelerate. Modern China and India are proving this statement.

Figure 3.1 Typical international distribution networks of production and distribution

Source: http://www.hca.org.vn/home/su_kien/sk_HCA/toan_canh_CNTT/nam2004/thamluan/3_Nguyen_A_Tuan/download#10

This historical potential advantage also has the effect of multiplying the combined advantage in the spatial dimension mentioned above. This is one of the factors that creates an extremely favorable starting point, thanks to which we can create our current strong attraction and development momentum. It should be added that the advantage gained through the concentration of national strengths, due to the position of the key economic development locomotive of the region and the whole country, needs to be clearly identified and positioned in a way that places it in the scope of Geography - Politics - Economy and culture of Vietnam as an organic structural part of a larger development space. The special geographical position of our country in the development map of the region and the world: blocking the "node" of the most important maritime route of the world at present and in the future (the route through the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean), located at the intersection of Indo culture

- China, the economic and political strategic position in the region, ... should be considered as a factor that increases or reduces both the advantages and disadvantages of Vietnam's development. The way to put the problem here is: If Vietnam's position according to the above standards is an advantage (or disadvantage) for development, we will enjoy or have to bear most of the development opportunities and challenges arising from it. This is a point that needs to be carefully considered in the process of identifying the general development position and strength as well as for designing the development goals of our country's knowledge economy.

3.1.1.2 Current advantages created by modern development (understood as direct products of premodern development)

First of all, based on the current socio-economic development status of Vietnam, some comments can be made on the current starting conditions as follows:

Firstly, the high level of population concentration , although this situation contains great development challenges in terms of employment, urbanization, electricity, water, schools, hospitals, social security, etc., from an economic perspective, it is easy to see that this is a great advantage. Simply because demand always creates a pressure for development to meet demand, orienting that development, therefore, is a decisive driving force for development in general, economic development in particular. From that perspective, the high level of demand concentration, and the demand of high quality, is a special driving force that few countries have. It creates incentives for the strong development of a wide range of industries (or attracts development services from other regions), in which, especially those industries with the capacity to satisfy higher demand often go hand in hand with modern science and technology.

Second, the economic starting point is quite average in the region . If we look more specifically, we can see that Vietnam's industrial sector is quite new and has a potential economic structure. Two other equally important indicators reflecting our favorable starting economic position and strength are the attraction of foreign direct investment (In 2008, FDI reached 64.011 billion USD, 3 times higher than in 2007, in 2009 FDI reached 21.5 billion USD, in 2010 FDI reached 17.2 billion USD, of which realized capital reached 11 billion USD) and the constantly increasing per capita income (reaching 1200 USD/person - 2010).

The economic structure is constantly shifting towards industry and services, the attraction of investment, especially foreign direct investment, and the rapid increase in population income are key conditions to accelerate the modernization process of Vietnam. These conditions create momentum for the process of shifting to a new economic structure, helping to improve faster the level of Technology - Engineering (thanks to the attraction of FDI) and the saving capacity of Vietnam in the coming period.

Along with this economic starting point are advantages due to our better fundamental conditions in terms of infrastructure, including both technical infrastructure and “soft” infrastructure (high-end service industries such as tourism, finance, banking). The basic conditions for our normal production and business activities such as electricity, water, transportation, etc. have been gradually improved to meet the requirements of modern development and have also kept up with the development speed of the region. Infrastructure system

Technical infrastructure such as telecommunications, telephone networks and Internet connections as well as "soft" infrastructure such as financial and banking services in our country have also reached a wider level of popularity and are constantly improving.

Third, we have a concentrated human resource with constantly improving quality . The indicators of the education and vocational training level of human resources are progressing quite positively. From the perspective of the knowledge economy, we have relatively favorable premises in terms of economic structure, technological level, infrastructure and qualified human resources. This is a very important condition to ensure that we are able to catch up with the development trajectory of the knowledge economy more smoothly.

Fourth, the advantage of opening up - international economic integration, with the advantage of being an important trading hub of the region , we have much more favorable starting conditions in taking advantage of the development advantages that the era creates and gives to the following countries. From the perspective of knowledge economy, it can be seen that there are two basic conditions to better realize this advantage. "Open" channels and extensive international connections allow for more opportunities to access international development conditions more easily. In addition, the starting level of economics, science and technology and human resources ensures that we will know how to choose what from the outside that we need to improve our competitiveness and develop at a reasonable cost; and be able to deploy and apply them to production and business life quickly.

The above is an overview of some strengths reflecting Vietnam's starting point from the knowledge-based economic frame of reference. However, these advantages are only potential and are considered in comparison with countries in Vietnam's neighboring region - the world's knowledge-based economic lowland. This observation implies that the assessment of this aspect of advantages is based on a relatively low standard (ground). Therefore, they do not fully reflect (and are far from fully reflecting) the essence of the economic starting point of the process of building and developing Vietnam's knowledge-based economy.

The above two points suggest that, first, there should be no illusions about the starting conditions of the development process. One must look with an optimistic but realistic eye, otherwise it will be difficult to identify the tasks that need to be solved to achieve a knowledge economy, and therefore, it will be impossible to design a correct development strategy for the immediate medium term. Second, potential advantages do not translate into reality by themselves. A series of supporting conditions, in a healthy and highly encouraging environment, are needed for the process to take place. And this is precisely the most difficult goal to achieve in any development process.

3.1.2 Difficulties and disadvantages in the process of building and developing a knowledge-based economy in Vietnam in the context of international integration

Overall, compared to the general level of the region, Vietnam clearly has many advantages for development conditions. This is the basic aspect of the starting state of our progress towards a knowledge-based economy. However, objectively, it is necessary to see that there are many obstacles and disadvantages on our development path. Not only are these objective factors, but more importantly, our own internal weaknesses, such as the weakness of infrastructure, low level of information technology, low quality of human resources, low level of modern market business environment, etc.

On the other hand, if we approach Vietnam's starting conditions from another perspective - from the relationship between actual capacity and the requirements set by the process of building a knowledge-based economy in the context of globalization - it is easy to see that we will have to face a starting level that is not high in principle, if not still at a low starting level, compared to the requirements. The loose connection between the industrial system and training and scientific research centers, the capacity to support human, financial and material resources for a number of priority research and training directions, etc. are undeniable realities that need to be thoroughly resolved.

3.1.3 Opportunities to build and develop a knowledge-based economy in Vietnam in the context of international integration

From the last decades of the 20th century until now, science and technology have made miraculous developments, especially the emergence of the information revolution, the knowledge revolution and the explosion of high technology. The most outstanding achievement is the extremely rapid development of information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology; these are basic high technologies, they are converging together to form the foundation for a new technological system of the 21st century , the technology of the knowledge economy. That new technological system is profoundly transforming production processes, business production methods and all areas of human social life. This is not only a revolution in technology, in economics but also a revolution in concepts, in thinking, in the way of living, working, in social relations... Along with the process of transforming productive forces, from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy, is the process of globalization; and in fact, a global knowledge economy is being formed. This is an objective and inevitable development trend, a trend that attracts all countries, without exception.

The formation and development of the knowledge economy is thanks to human creativity, the ability to create new knowledge, and apply knowledge, turn knowledge into wealth, promote economic growth, human development and social development. Resources are limited, human creativity is unlimited; once the economy relies mainly on human intellectual capacity, the potential of the economy of countries in general, including ours, is enormous.

The process of developing economies moving towards a knowledge-based economy is a natural process, in accordance with the laws of development of human social history. International integration, exploiting the advantages of the global knowledge-based economy to develop the country, is the most feasible choice for developing countries.

Market liberalization is creating favorable conditions for the world economy, especially information, telecommunications and transportation, thereby forming a global infrastructure that strongly promotes the adjustment of old industries and the development of new industries. The global information system creates opportunities for many developing countries to access and exploit the global knowledge base for rapid development, narrowing the gap with developed countries, developing a more advanced technology, and at the same time providing developing countries with lower-cost products thanks to the abundant resources and cheap labor of developing countries. In addition, absorbing new cultural streams combined with preserving and promoting national cultural identity also creates conditions for building a fresher society in the development of a knowledge society.

In the context of our country's increasing international integration, having a favorable geographical location for international trade is also a rare opportunity for us to accelerate the development of the knowledge economy.

3.1.4 Challenges in the process of building and developing a knowledge-based economy in Vietnam in the context of international integration

These many opportunities also entail countless challenges when developing a knowledge-based economy in the context of international integration.

Transnational corporations have brought to developing countries more advanced technology, cheaper products thanks to abundant resources and cheaper labor, but at the same time, developing countries have had to pay a high price for growth, suffering many disadvantages, with resources being depleted quickly, the ecological environment being polluted, etc. Latecomers must have enough courage to be able to rise up and catch up with the leading countries; if they do not have enough courage and do not seize the opportunity, the country will fall further and further behind and be marginalized.

Globalization also poses many challenges for developing countries that seem difficult to overcome. The difficulty is not only in building endogenous capacity and policy capacity, but also due to the inequality of the current globalization institution. Even in the TRIPS Agreement (the agreement on intellectual property rights in trade relations). A specific example of the TRIPS Agreement is that it mainly protects the owners of solutions, they sell at any price, to maximize profits, making it difficult for poor countries to access high-tech products, especially pharmaceuticals, software, etc. High-tech products are intellectual products, unlike other ordinary products, it is very difficult to determine their value, the law of labor value is almost no longer suitable; however, monopolies sell them at very high prices. For rich countries with an average income per capita of about 30 thousand USD, buying a PC for about 500 USD, a Windows operating system of a few hundred USD is not much, but for countries with an income of about 600-1000 USD like Vietnam, it will cause difficulties in accessing and disseminating knowledge.

While calling for free trade, economic powers have increased trade protectionism; with hundreds of billions of dollars in protection for agriculture and a number of industries, processing industries, and erecting technical barriers that have been and are holding back production development in developing countries. The current globalization regime certainly poses many severe challenges for developing countries in sharing global knowledge for their own development. To overcome this challenge, it is necessary to promote endogenous capacity, invest heavily in human resource development, science and technology capacity, and the creative power of the entire nation, choose appropriate strategies, take shortcuts, shorten, and overcome obstacles, just like the use of open source software has opened a way out of software monopoly.

In addition, the favorable location for international trade and development also requires a large amount of defense spending to ensure national security and territorial integrity and maintain that favorable location. In addition, international trade also leads to negative cultural influences, forcing us to know how to filter out new cultural quintessence in addition to preserving national cultural identity.

3.2 MAIN VIEWPOINTS TO APPROACH AND DEVELOP KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY IN VIETNAM IN THE CONDITION OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

From the practice of Vietnam, through research and theoretical analysis, to develop the knowledge economy in our country in the conditions of international integration, we can propose the following system of viewpoints.

3.2.1 Knowledge-based economic development must be sustainable and reach consensus.

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