Digital transformation journey

Vietnam’s digital economy is expected to reach $43 billion by 2025, according to the e-Conomy Southeast Asia report from Google, Temasek and new partner Bain & Company. A customer uses smart phone to scan code on a product Nguyen Quang Dong, Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Communication Development, said digital service industry is recording the fastest growth and is suitable with Vietnam’s strengths such as a young population who love technology and social networks. Digital technology and the digital economy will be key drivers helping Vietnam increase workplace productivity, escape the “middle-income trap”, and realise the objective of becoming a middle-class developed economy by 2040, Dong said. Vietnam’s internet infrastructure and digital payment services remain limited, however, while the country still lacks a legal framework for digital assets, he said, stressing that the legal model of the 20th century no longer suits the digital economy. Dong also underlined the need to promote international cooperation, especially in joining the building of new regulations and their enforcement through legal frameworks for the region. A study by the Institute for Global Leadership under the US-based Tufts University revealed that Vietnam ranks 48th out of 60 countries and territories globally in terms of rapidly switching to a digital economy, and 22nd in digitisation development. In the last five years, with the boom of smartphones, the internet, and social networks, digital technology and digital transformation have developed rapidly in Vietnam, shaping a fledgling, dynamic digital economy with great potential. Vietnam’s digital economy is made up of four main groups: e-commerce, online tourism, digital communications, and logistics technology. The country, together with Indonesia, holds the lead in digital economy growth in Southeast Asia. The two pacesetters are both posting growth in excess of 40 percent a …

[Read more...] about Digital economy predicted to reach $43 billion by 2025

New mission of the ICT industry Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung says Vietnam’s information and communications technology (ICT) industry has a rare opportunity to reposition itself. If the ICT industry continues to focus on assembly, processing and outsourcing, he said at a conference reviewing 2020 developments and presenting tasks for 2021, it would stagnate. However, if it adopts the “Make in Vietnam” strategy for the development of Vietnam’s digital technology enterprises, mastering technology, designing, renovating and producing in Vietnam, it would spur the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth by two to four times. The “Make in Vietnam” strategy will also turn Vietnam into a prosperous, developed and high-income country by 2045. The belief is further strengthened by data showing that Vietnam currently ranks second in the world in manufacturing phones and components, and 10th in manufacturing electronics and components. These are also two of Vietnam’s 10 main export products, making the ICT industry the largest export and trade surplus sector of the economy. In early 2020, the prime minister issued Instruction 01/CT-TTg on promoting the development of digital technology enterprises in Vietnam. By the end of the year, over 13,000 digital enterprises have been set up, a yearly increase of 28 percent, raising the total to more than 58,000 businesses. The target of 100,000 digital enterprises by 2030 appears feasible by 2025. Notably, Vietnam has been able to rapidly develop digital products to contend with Covid-19 and adapt to a new normal, from Ncovi, Bluezone, CoMeet apps for contact tracing and online meetings to online learning platforms, remote medical consulting and remote accounting and business management platforms. “Perhaps Vietnam is the world leader in designing digital platforms during the Covid period. We would not have been able to do so had we not mastered these technologies,” Minister Nguyen Manh Hung …

[Read more...] about Aspiring to turn Vietnam into a technology powerhouse

Red Spring Festival expects to collect over 4,000 blood units Young people donate their blood In his opening remarks, Director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) Bach Quoc Khanh, who is head of the festival’s organizing board, said that the festival has been held annually since 2008 to address blood shortages after the lunar New Year holiday, and gradually changed public awareness of blood donation. After 13 editions, the festival has collected over 85,000 blood units and become the annual biggest blood donation event. Khanh took the occasion to express his gratitude for donators nationwide. The 14th edition is taking place from March 1-7 at the NIHBT headquarters, and three fixed places - 26 Luong Ngoc Quyen in Hoan Kiem district, 132 Quan Nhan in Thanh Xuan district, and Valley 122 of Lang Street in Dong Da district. The organizing board expects to receive over 4,000 blood units during this year’s festival, which then will be allocated to nearly 180 hospitals and medical establishments of 28 provinces and cities in the northern region. It has also made thorough preparations to welcome donors so as to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control as recommended by the World Health Organisation and the Health Ministry./. Fatal coach crash kills three, injures 4 in Dong Thap A serious traffic accident caused by a passenger coach took place on National Highway 54 in Tan Thanh Commune of Dong Thap Province’s Lai Vung District this morning, March 1, killing three and injuring four people. The passenger coach with plate number 51B-17273 driven by Tran Van Nam, aged 41, was heading from Vam Cong Bridge to Vinh Long Province when it plowed into a group of 10 bike riders and killed a rider, identified as Tran Van An, aged 59. The passenger coach continued slamming into two electric poles and a tree on the pavement, damaging the front of the coach. Local residents immediately took some injured passengers …

[Read more...] about VIETNAM NEWS HEADLINES MARCH 2