Digital transformation technologies

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 …

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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 …

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The country’s three high-tech parks still have plenty of space to fill for new projects. Photo: Le Toan Hoa Lac High-tech Park (HHTP) is now surrounded with complete infrastructure and favourable transport links which were expected to be an important factor for investment attraction. According to the park’s Management Board, it attracted six projects with total investment of about VND9 trillion ($391 million) in 2020, including one foreign and five domestically-owned. They focus on research and development, manufacturing, and high-tech pharmacy. While the figure is higher than that of 2019, when the park lured in just four domestically-invested projects registered at VND7.46 trillion ($324 million), it was far lower than 2018, when it attracted 11 projects registered with VND17 trillion ($739 million), a record high over the past 20 years. Notable names involved included Nidec, Mitsubishi, and Hanwha Group. The result is lower than expected though the HHTP itself enjoys Decree No.74/2017/ND-CP which came into effect in 2017, governing special mechanisms and policies for the park only. Few social infrastructures such as workers’ housing, hospitals, trade centres, and other services have been licensed there. Industry insiders said that in the context that the country is promoting high-tech foreign investment and the trend of making business and investment in the local market among technology groups, the lacklustre foreign investment attraction of the HHTP has raised questions over how attractive it actually is. While COVID-19 is an obvious reason, others should be included, some added. Established in 1998, the filling rate of the park is now 40 per cent of its over 1,500 hectares. The HHTP boasts the longest history among the country’s three high-tech parks, and has the advantages thanks to Decree 74, which includes unique incentives such as the 10 per cent corporate income tax (CIT) within the first 30 years for a new investment project of at least VND4 …

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