Innovation - Launchpad for Economic Development

2:23:12 PM | 4/18/2019

“Be innovative or get eliminated?” is the message delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue to major business leaders in Vietnam at the recent CEO Forum 2019 in Hanoi.

To be successful, there is no other way than we have to “change our blood” and uphold innovations, said the Deputy Prime Minister, adding that the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 is the key to solve this challenge. This is truly an internet of things-based smart production revolution that transforming the real world into a digital world. And, this revolution is said to have strong impacts on economy, society and environment across the globe, affect all sectors and fields at a fast, strong, unprecedented pace of breakthrough in human history.

In Vietnam, the Party and the Government are well aware of the importance of this megatrend impact on the economy. Therefore, the Government has increasingly improved the business and investment environment, strengthened the macroeconomic foundation, promoted entrepreneurship and innovation, and facilitated business development support.
Right in 2019, the Government has requested the Ministry of Planning and Investment to work with relevant bodies to develop the first National Innovation Center (NIC) Project in Vietnam located in the Hoa Lac High Tech Park.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Information and Communications, said, Industry 4.0 is a certain transformation of the old economy into a digital economy with many new activities. Accordingly, economic activities use digital information and digital knowledge as main production factors, use the internet and information networks as the operating space, and use information and communication technology (ICT) as leverage to increase labor productivity and optimize the economy.

This is also a long evolution - a process of digital transformation on the national level, at different levels of all fields, every individual, every business and every Government uses digital technology to do their jobs better. The simplest example of digital economy is using electronic documents instead of paper documents. This stage has reduced many cumbersome administrative procedures, saved money for the national budget and for businesses.

He hoped that Vietnam will become a developed country by 2045 where digital technology companies are vital to the quality of Vietnam's economy in the coming time. From the cradle of a small domestic market, Vietnamese digital technology companies will go global.

According to Mr. Dao Ngoc Dung, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam's innovation index continued to go up in rankings, climbing to No. 45 among 126 economies ranked in 2018, two places higher than in 2017 and 14 places higher than in 2016. But, compared with other countries in the top group, Vietnam’s performance remained stagnant in business environment, university ranking, knowledge-intensive employment, the rate of qualified female workers, the number of international patent registrations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system, and ICT service export/import.

“In this digital age, the role of every player must be clearly defined, the Government will create a level playing field, the heart of digital transformation is businesses led by CEOs towards groundbreaking goals. We must find out how to make not only big businesses, but also small and micro entities easily accessible to Digital Age 4.0 or 5.0. Thus, should we build a “guide book” on digital transformation for businesses to learn more about this issue,” said Dr. Vu Tien Loc, President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

Anh Phuong