Vietnam Internet Day 2018, with theme of "Internet and Vietnam’s digital ecosystem", aimed at creating a knowledge connection, support and linkage among enterprises, users and state agencies in the Internet industry.

The conference and exhibition on Vietnam Internet Day 2018, organized by the Vietnam Internet Association (VIA) in Hanoi on December 5, were the highlight of the year for the Vietnamese Internet community.

Vietnamese businesses have the capacity and desire to own technology and, the domestic market in the development of digital ecosystem.

With a population of approximately 95 million people and the Internet penetration rate of over 60%, Vietnam is ranked 16th in the world in terms of number of Internet users.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung pointed out that the average Internet use time of Vietnamese people is up to nearly seven hours per day.

This shows that Vietnamese people have spent considerable time on activities on cyberspace, serving different needs. Therefore, developing a digital ecosystem that serves the Vietnamese people is a long and necessary journey, creating more value for society and the people, Hung added.

He noted that Vietnamese enterprises have the capacity and desire to own technology and the domestic market, even to sell products to the region if they receive timely support from policies, from the market, as well as from the users. Vietnam also becomes an attractive destination for many foreign technology firms.

However, Vietnam is still confused about the "rules of the game". A resounding lawsuit between Vinasun and Grab is an example. It's not just a "clash" between a traditional taxi business and a cross-border technology carrier, but essentially a collision of traditional business models with the new business model based on the technology platform, said the deputy minister.

He also said that although the regulators have made efforts to amend, there is a certain lag in policy, when developments evolve too fast and the policy cannot keep up with them. This is a common problem not only in Vietnam but also in other countries in the world, including developed countries.

How can Vietnamese traditional enterprises survive and compete equally with technology-based service providers? There is no other way than to create a fair and equal “game rule”, with sufficient force that all “players” must comply with.

Trend for technology in the future

VNG’s Deputy General Director Vu Minh Tri described the panorama of Vietnam’s digital ecosystem and pointed out three major technology groups that are obvious in the future are Big Data (storage and management of huge data amount), AI (artificial intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things).

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Hung said that the digital ecosystem in the world as well as in Vietnam is changing day by day and will shift to other forms. There will be factors forcing these types of services to change in order to survive, compete and grow.

Hung also noted the two main factors that played a major role in this change are AI and privacy. AI is the technology that businesses are forced to apply to increase competitiveness, change their products faster to attract customers. Privacy is related to people, society, and policy.

Domestic enterprises wanting to survive, develop to dominate the domestic market and reach out to the region should not ignore these two factors, Hung stressed.

He also expressed, in the context of international integration, Vietnam always welcomes international investors and multinational corporations to invest in the country.

Besides, Vietnam wants to listen to international experiences in building a digital ecosystem in order to draw up an appropriate direction for Vietnam, update the trend of infrastructure development, cloud computing and ensure cybersecurity when Vietnam is in a robust digital transition, Hung noted.

Hanoitimes