Decree 386/2026/ND-CP: Breakthrough Mechanisms for National Data Innovation and Exploitation

Decree 386/2026/ND-CP: Breakthrough Mechanisms for National Data Innovation and Exploitation

Issued: 12 October 2026 (published in Official Gazette No. 560 on 23 October 2026)
Effective date: the excerpt provided does not state it; check the implementation provisions in the full text.

Scope and Subjects

The Decree sets breakthrough mechanisms for:

• National data innovation and exploitation (attracting experts, young talent and initiatives; data access and exploitation; finance and venture investment; data innovation spaces; data products, services and the data economy)
• Data innovation and exploitation at the Data Innovation and Exploitation Center under the National Data Center

Applicable subjects: that Center, and Vietnamese and foreign agencies, organizations and individuals involved in innovation and data exploitation in Vietnam.

Experts and Young Talent

• Data experts: people with qualifications, experience, works, products, solutions or patents confirmed by a competent agency, professional body, research or training institution or reputable technology company, in data, digital technology, AI or data security.
• Young talent: Vietnamese citizens aged 16 to 35 with prestigious achievements or awards, or works, products or innovative startup projects with application and commercialization potential.

Benefits (one or several): recruitment and contracts from age 18; remuneration and bonuses commensurate with contribution; leading or joining several tasks at once; those aged 16 to under 18 get discovery, training and incubation support. Agencies and organizations may apply special agreements on pay, bonuses, intellectual property and benefit-sharing; income levels are approved by the head of the competent agency after input from a specialist unit or council. On tax, experts and young talent receive the best personal income tax incentives under tax law, with personal income tax exemption rules similar to those for the International Financial Center in Vietnam. Beneficiaries must commit to tasks, products, outputs and schedules.

Breakthrough Initiatives

An initiative must be novel, capable of major impact, and meet one of the criteria: a new or significantly improved solution or model; solving an urgent problem; scalability and ecosystem potential; commercialization potential; forming new data products or services.

Attraction methods: continuous electronic submission; publishing major problems for commissioning; search programs, competitions and incubation; direct selection; other methods.

Submission is electronic. The receiving agency completes selection within 15 working days of receiving a complete valid file; where specialist evaluation or independent appraisal is needed, this may extend to no more than 30 working days, with reasons notified.

Data Exploitation Incentives

Individuals and groups with breakthrough initiatives or data product prototypes:

• 100% of costs of using shared and other permitted data for 24 months
• Up to 70% of prototype completion, data standardization and similar costs, capped at 500 million VND per project per year, up to 2 years
• 100% of secure processing environment, testing tools and digital workspace costs, capped at 200 million VND per project per year
• Priority handling of data requests within Article 13 deadlines; a personal identified account for remote access

Innovative startups, innovative SME startups and science and technology enterprises:

• 100% of shared and other permitted data fees for 36 months
• Up to 70% of product completion, data integration and compliance assessment costs, capped at 1 billion VND per project per year, up to 3 years
• Up to 50% of computing, cloud, testing environment and shared workspace rental, capped at 20 million VND per month per enterprise, up to 36 months
• Up to 70% of intellectual property, standards, measurement, quality and commercialization consulting, capped at 300 million VND per enterprise per year
• Priority for controlled testing, research commissioning and investment promotion; remote access rights

Separate levels apply to entities with operating products, science and technology organizations, universities, scientists and incubators (Articles 8 and 14). An entity in several groups gets only the single highest incentive, without stacking.

Data Exploitation Procedure

• Principle: single declaration, single appraisal, single point of resolution; fully electronic.
• Request content: identity, purpose, scope, data type, duration, basis, data protection plan (for conditional or protected data).
• The receiving agency may only request additional information; if none is requested within 3 working days of receipt, the request is deemed valid.
• Maximum resolution time from validity: 24 hours (standard packages with automatic conditions); 3 working days (shared data, ordinary checks); 7 working days (anonymization, de-identification, secure environment or consultation with other agencies); 10 working days (especially complex cases, one extension, with electronic notice and reasons).
• State agencies may not require paper copies of documents already held in valid electronic form, or resubmission of information already in state databases.

National Data Incubator

The Incubator belongs to the Data Innovation and Exploitation Center and provides data, ideas, technology, infrastructure, finance, training, consulting and networking to develop and commercialize data products and services.

Participants (identified through contracts or cooperation agreements): innovative startups, science and technology enterprises and innovative SME startups (operating no more than 5 years from first enterprise registration, no public securities offering for joint-stock companies, active in data and digital technology); science and technology organizations; domestic and foreign experts and researchers; others meeting criteria set by the Minister of Public Security.

Incentives: those in the Decree; individuals get the best personal income tax incentives and enterprises the best corporate income tax incentives under tax law, with exemption rules similar to the International Financial Center in Vietnam; priority access to shareable datasets; shared infrastructure incentives; testing and evaluation cost support; transition to public procurement and commercialization; financing and human resource incentives. Specific support levels are set in a support plan approved by the competent authority.

Liability exemption for objective risks (unprecedented technology testing, policy changes, technical risks, unintended data incidents) where full preventive measures were taken, with no intent or personal gain and commitments honored; it does not cover compensation to third parties for breach of contract or law.

Data enrichment duties: standardize, clean, label and add metadata; share processing results with the Center under its rules (unless law provides otherwise); comply with data, personal data, state secret and cybersecurity law. The Center must protect confidential information and trade secrets and may not use shared data to build directly competing products without written consent.

Completion: a completion certificate within 15 working days of the Center receiving a complete file; listing in the eligible project catalogue within 10 working days of issue, published on the Center's portal.

Data Innovation Spaces

They include physical spaces (shared workspaces, research rooms, testing areas) and online spaces (national data innovation portal, secure processing environments, cloud infrastructure). Individuals and groups with breakthrough initiatives or prototypes receive up to 10 m2 per project or up to 15 million VND per month per project, for up to 24 months.

Data Protection and Violations

• Protect data through collection, storage, processing and exploitation; personal data, state secrets and trade secrets follow sector-specific law; anonymized, de-identified, aggregated or secure-environment data is preferred.
• Violating exploitation conditions leads to suspension or revocation of rights and legal handling.
• Users must report incidents, keep full logs, return, delete or destroy data when the purpose or permit ends, submit to inspection, surrender gains from violations and compensate damage where caused.

Funding

State budget for science, technology and innovation, the National Data Development Fund and other funds, sponsorship, aid, public-private partnerships and other lawful sources.