Digital awards

The ASEAN Digital Awards 2024 was organized on February 1 within the framework of the 4th ASEAN Digital Ministers' Meeting in Singapore.

According to the organizing board, of 18 awards in six categories, Vietnamese businesses received four awards in digital inclusion, digital innovation, and digital content. The four awards included one silver prize for MobiFone’s mobiAgri, a digital agriculture platform; and one gold prize in digital innovation for VinBrain with DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer Diagnosis & Treatment (D&T).

In the digital content category, the solutions of Vietnamese companies won two out of three prizes, with one gold for Galaxy Play’s “ICANKid – Choi ma hoc” (ICANKid – Pay to learn) and one silver for FPT IS’ VioEdu.

The ASEAN Digital Awards, previously named ASEAN ICT Awards (AICTA), is one of the prestigious prizes for software products and IT solutions created by ASEAN countries. This has been an annual award since 2012. The nominees are assessed based on strict criteria by the jury board of ministers of information and communications of 10 ASEAN countries.

Investment in semiconductor industry

US Deputy Secretary of State Jose Fernandez on January 24 talked about cooperation with Vietnam in semiconductor chips and clean energy at a meeting with AmCham members in HCM City.

Fernandez paid working visits to three Asian countries, coming to Vietnam on the first leg, then to the Philippines and South Korea.

Talking to the business community, he highlighted the strong economic ties between Vietnam and the US. 

The US is targeting seven countries for its investment, related to the CHIPS Act ("Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors") worth $52 billion. Under the act, the US plans to spend $500 million to improve training capability and ensure semiconductor, cybersecurity and global business environment supply chains.

The US considers Vietnam an important partner, one of the countries topping the list of countries it targets.

Cyberattacks

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) reported that 84 websites of state agencies were inserted with inappropriate content in December 2023. The figure was 300 websites in the last five months last year.

The vulnerabilities of the websites of many state agencies were exploited by hackers to post inappropriate content, or to redirect or connect with ads about games and gambling. 

Digital transformation center

On January 30, HCM City People’s Committee announced the establishment of the HCMC Digital Transformation Center. 

The center performs tasks in implementing programs, projects and plans on digital transformation, and smart city; and provides services to support the digital transformation of state agencies and organizations.

Trong Dat