Vietnam and innovation in COVID-19 testing

Robyn Klingler-Vidra

doi:10.1136/bmjinnov-2021-000680

Vietnam and innovation in COVID-19 testing

Robyn Klingler-Vidra

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Vietnam made global headlines for its effective management of the first wave of COVID-19. Now, at the time of writing in Spring 2021, although there are occasional instances of imported cases in the headlines, in Vietnam the country's battle with the virus is often spoke of in past tense. After all, the country has responded effectively to each wave, by implementing localised, targeted lockdowns in an effort to quell outbreaks, and through a combination of government, business sector and grassroots innovation that lessened the spread of the virus and ameliorated the impact of the lockdown. To give context to the scale of Vietnam's tremendous response, through June 2020 the country had fewer than 400 cases and 0 deaths. While the ultimate outcome from the pandemic remains to be seen, we believe there are important lessons to be learnt by analysing the determinants of Vietnam's innovative actions to flatten the curve. In this review, we distil five lessons: (1) a shared purpose is an essential motivator, (2) grassroots and small business entrepreneurs are important innovators, (3) multistakeholder collaboration is a powerful force, (4) contextual innovation is essential, and (5) the state is a key enabler of timely innovation. We focus, in particular, on the case of innovation occurring in affordable COVID-19 test kit development in Vietnam.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	S19-S22
Journal	BMJ Innvovations
Volume	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjinnov-2021-000680
Publication status	Published - 31 Mar 2021

Keywords

Vietnam
Covid -19
innovation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1136/bmjinnov-2021-000680

https://innovations.bmj.com/content/7/Suppl_1/s19.full

Cite this

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title = "Vietnam and innovation in COVID-19 testing",

abstract = "Vietnam made global headlines for its effective management of the first wave of COVID-19. Now, at the time of writing in Spring 2021, although there are occasional instances of imported cases in the headlines, in Vietnam the country's battle with the virus is often spoke of in past tense. After all, the country has responded effectively to each wave, by implementing localised, targeted lockdowns in an effort to quell outbreaks, and through a combination of government, business sector and grassroots innovation that lessened the spread of the virus and ameliorated the impact of the lockdown. To give context to the scale of Vietnam's tremendous response, through June 2020 the country had fewer than 400 cases and 0 deaths. While the ultimate outcome from the pandemic remains to be seen, we believe there are important lessons to be learnt by analysing the determinants of Vietnam's innovative actions to flatten the curve. In this review, we distil five lessons: (1) a shared purpose is an essential motivator, (2) grassroots and small business entrepreneurs are important innovators, (3) multistakeholder collaboration is a powerful force, (4) contextual innovation is essential, and (5) the state is a key enabler of timely innovation. We focus, in particular, on the case of innovation occurring in affordable COVID-19 test kit development in Vietnam.",

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note = "Funding Information: A clear example of entrepreneurship comes from VAST, as Dr Quyen worked to reallocate funds he had gained from other projects in order to undertake initial work on his test kit. In so doing, he showed initiative and creativity. In a similarly entrepreneurial way, Dr Hoa at HUST began developing a test kit without input from institutional leaders nor direct funding from the university. He used his university research facilities and sought out partnerships with private sector collaborators (Innogenex and Sunstar) in order to complete, and then commercialise, the test kits. At IMM, Dr Su{\textquoteright}s team were also entrepreneurial when they initiated their research before IMM had acted, and when they contacted a private company (Viet A) about collaborating on commercialisation. Thanks to their initiative, they later secured funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) for further test kit development on the basis that they had already arranged for commercialisation. Funding Information: Funding The authors received financial support from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account, managed by King{\textquoteright}s College London. Funding Information: The Communist Party of Vietnam demonstrated flexibility and responsiveness in its provision of funding and support for each team{\textquoteright}s test kit innovation. Atypically, it authorised financial support for two teams to work on similar projects: VAST could spend state money on its own test kit even though IMM had already been developing theirs with funding from the MOST. Also, the state provided non-financial support for the third set of researchers, as the Ministry of Health agreed to meet the HUST–Sunstar–Innogenex team and organised a committee of leading medical experts from the NIHE and the National Institute for Control of Vaccine and Biologicals to assess their prototype kit. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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N1 - Funding Information: A clear example of entrepreneurship comes from VAST, as Dr Quyen worked to reallocate funds he had gained from other projects in order to undertake initial work on his test kit. In so doing, he showed initiative and creativity. In a similarly entrepreneurial way, Dr Hoa at HUST began developing a test kit without input from institutional leaders nor direct funding from the university. He used his university research facilities and sought out partnerships with private sector collaborators (Innogenex and Sunstar) in order to complete, and then commercialise, the test kits. At IMM, Dr Su’s team were also entrepreneurial when they initiated their research before IMM had acted, and when they contacted a private company (Viet A) about collaborating on commercialisation. Thanks to their initiative, they later secured funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) for further test kit development on the basis that they had already arranged for commercialisation. Funding Information: Funding The authors received financial support from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account, managed by King’s College London. Funding Information: The Communist Party of Vietnam demonstrated flexibility and responsiveness in its provision of funding and support for each team’s test kit innovation. Atypically, it authorised financial support for two teams to work on similar projects: VAST could spend state money on its own test kit even though IMM had already been developing theirs with funding from the MOST. Also, the state provided non-financial support for the third set of researchers, as the Ministry of Health agreed to meet the HUST–Sunstar–Innogenex team and organised a committee of leading medical experts from the NIHE and the National Institute for Control of Vaccine and Biologicals to assess their prototype kit. Publisher Copyright: © Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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N2 - Vietnam made global headlines for its effective management of the first wave of COVID-19. Now, at the time of writing in Spring 2021, although there are occasional instances of imported cases in the headlines, in Vietnam the country's battle with the virus is often spoke of in past tense. After all, the country has responded effectively to each wave, by implementing localised, targeted lockdowns in an effort to quell outbreaks, and through a combination of government, business sector and grassroots innovation that lessened the spread of the virus and ameliorated the impact of the lockdown. To give context to the scale of Vietnam's tremendous response, through June 2020 the country had fewer than 400 cases and 0 deaths. While the ultimate outcome from the pandemic remains to be seen, we believe there are important lessons to be learnt by analysing the determinants of Vietnam's innovative actions to flatten the curve. In this review, we distil five lessons: (1) a shared purpose is an essential motivator, (2) grassroots and small business entrepreneurs are important innovators, (3) multistakeholder collaboration is a powerful force, (4) contextual innovation is essential, and (5) the state is a key enabler of timely innovation. We focus, in particular, on the case of innovation occurring in affordable COVID-19 test kit development in Vietnam.

AB - Vietnam made global headlines for its effective management of the first wave of COVID-19. Now, at the time of writing in Spring 2021, although there are occasional instances of imported cases in the headlines, in Vietnam the country's battle with the virus is often spoke of in past tense. After all, the country has responded effectively to each wave, by implementing localised, targeted lockdowns in an effort to quell outbreaks, and through a combination of government, business sector and grassroots innovation that lessened the spread of the virus and ameliorated the impact of the lockdown. To give context to the scale of Vietnam's tremendous response, through June 2020 the country had fewer than 400 cases and 0 deaths. While the ultimate outcome from the pandemic remains to be seen, we believe there are important lessons to be learnt by analysing the determinants of Vietnam's innovative actions to flatten the curve. In this review, we distil five lessons: (1) a shared purpose is an essential motivator, (2) grassroots and small business entrepreneurs are important innovators, (3) multistakeholder collaboration is a powerful force, (4) contextual innovation is essential, and (5) the state is a key enabler of timely innovation. We focus, in particular, on the case of innovation occurring in affordable COVID-19 test kit development in Vietnam.

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DO - 10.1136/bmjinnov-2021-000680

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ER -

Vietnam and innovation in COVID-19 testing

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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