Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has just approved the proposal of the Information & Communications Ministry (MIC) regarding replacing the program ‘Developing the IT and Electronics-Telecoms Industries until 2025’ with the project ‘Strategies to Develop the Digital Technology Industry in Vietnam until 2025’.

This is considered a critical change to create sufficient capable human resources in the digital technology field to make breakthroughs for the industry.

Guiding young people to digitalize their work in SHTP-IC. (Photo: SGGP)

In November 2021, MIC proposed that the Prime Minister use the project ‘Strategies to Develop the Digital Technology Industry in Vietnam until 2025, with a Vision to 2030’ to replace the current program ‘Developing the IT and Electronics-Telecoms Industries until 2025, with a Vision to 2030’ so that Vietnam is more active in Industry 4.0.

Along with the greenlight for the proposal this time, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam asked that MIC submit a report on the preparation mission for ‘National Strategies to Develop Vietnamese Digital Technology Businesses until 2030’ to ensure synchronization, efficiency, logic while avoiding overlaps between strategies.

In the guideline for IT industry development in 2022 and the period from 2022-2024, MIC has identified the completion of the ‘Strategies to Develop the Digital Technology Industry in Vietnam until 2025, with a Vision to 2030’ as one of the seven key missions in the ICT industry this year.

This means the digital technology industry will become one pillar for the establishment of a digital government and the modernization of the agriculture, industry, and service sectors as well as all aspects of the society.

MIC further informed about main missions and solutions in the ICT industry in 2022, saying that it will continue to promote the creation of ‘Make-in-Vietnam’ technological products so that Vietnam can transform into a technological nation to serve both the domestic and foreign markets by implementing digital applications in all cultural, socio-economic aspects.

In addition, MIC will facilitate investments in the research and manufacturing of 5G equipment to fulfill the goal of offering 5G commercial services through the use of domestic devices; building a management system to boost the growth of the national digital technology industry.

From 2022-2024, MIC is going to focus on developing a digital technology business ecosystem and upgrading the quality of the human resources in the field; organizing regular activities to connect between demands and supplies, between small, medium, and large enterprises, between innovative startups; preparing, updating and then implementing the skill standards for the digital human resources; maintaining the 6-6.5-percent contribution of digital technology businesses to GDP from 2022 - 2024.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung stated that there has been a strong growth in the number of incubators for innovative ideas, young technology businesses, and novel technology products in Vietnam thanks to the effective collaboration the Government, large corporations, and technology enterprises to take full advantage of the strengths of each partner.

“This cooperation will promote innovation and encourage the development of young companies to reach the goal of Vietnam owning 100,000 technology businesses in 2025. This cooperation will also positively impact the digital transformation process in the country thanks to feasible solutions. Finally, this cooperation will contribute to introducing superior large-scale technology products and solutions that can satisfy international markets”, affirmed Minister Hung.

MIC statistics reveal that until 2021. Vietnam had 64,000 digital technology enterprises (a rise of 5,600 units compared to 2020) and introduced nearly made-in-Vietnam ICT products or services. The revenues of the ICT industry last year reached US$136.2 billion, 13.8 percent of which belonged to Vietnamese companies ($18.78 billion).

In 2022, MIC aims at increasing the total quantity of digital technology businesses in Vietnam to 70,000 and the total revenues in the IT-Telecoms industry to $148.5 billion; having an IT revenue growth rate of 9.2 percent and state budget contribution of $3 billion.

Source: Sai Gon Giai Phong

Digital transformation: Vietnam’s ICT industry in 2021

On December 30, 2021, the Vietnam Information Technology Journalists Club (ICT Press Club) announced the 10 main ICT events in 2021 in which the imprint of digital transformation was outstanding.

Challenges for Vietnam’s businesses when going digital

Data administration capacity; access to capital, information and documents; access to experts; and costs are the major barriers to Vietnam's digital transformation.