Sao Khue Award this year honoured 182 outstanding digital platforms, products and services.

The information was announced at an award ceremony organised by the Viet Nam Software and IT Services Association (VINASA) held in Ha Noi on Friday, marking 20 years of the prestigious awards in the country’s information and technology (IT) sector.

The 182 awards include 15 digital platforms, 22 pioneering technology solutions, two digital start-ups, 38 outstanding digital services, and 105 excellent digital solutions. Especially, 11 nominations are rated 5-star Sao Khue and 10 excellent nominations were awarded the Top 10 Sao Khue Awards 2023.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said: “Sao Khue Award has vitality because it always follows the life and the movement as well as the changes of the software industry and information technology services. The vitality of Sao Khue Award comes from the vitality of Viet Nam's IT industry. 20 years with a growth of nearly 300 times is a miracle story unprecedented in any country. We, who sit here today, have had the good fortune to be a part of the miracle, living in that magical period and also contributing to creating the miracle.”

He added that in recent years, the Sao Khue Award has closely followed the transformation from IT to digital technology, from IT application to digital transformation, from outsourcing to Make In Vietnam, from individual software to digital platforms, from IT systems to cloud computing, from domestic to foreign markets. And especially the transformation from IT as a supporting tool to digital technology as the main production tool.

Hung asked the award’s organiser to continue to innovate. Prestige must be the main brand of Sao Khue Award as its reputation is also the prestige of Viet Nam's IT industry, contributing to the country’s digital technology.

If Viet Nam's economy wants to develop quickly and sustainably, it must rely on the digital economy. The digital economy must become the main driving force for Viet Nam's rapid and sustainable growth. The digital economy would develop at a rate 3-4 times higher than GDP growth, and account for 20-25 per cent of GDP by 2025. Developing the digital economy has become a national strategy, he added.

Truong Gia Binh, VINASA’s chairman, said that Viet Nam's software and IT services industry has matured while products and services are of sufficient quality and quantity to serve the market. Sao Khue Award needs to show a strong linking role in the country's digital transformation.

“The issue of digital transformation now not only supports customers in technology application and technology transformation; but cooperation and connection with each other. It is the issue of establishing links and alliances in digital transformation among IT enterprises with firms and organisations in other industries.”

After 20 years of development, Sao Khue delivered 1,546 awards. It has become an effective launching pad for Vietnamese IT brands and an award that guarantees the quality and prestige of IT products and services.

The Sao Khue Award is associated with hundreds of the most IT prestigious products, solutions and services in the market such as Kiot Viet, Base.vn, Bravo, Zalo, Vietinbank efast, and PamAir with the names of leading enterprises such as FPT, Viettel, VNPT, MobiFone, Rikkeisoft, Luvina, and Fujinet.

The industry’s revenue in 2022 reached US$148 billion with a total workforce of over 1.2 million people, more than 300 times higher in revenue and 240 times higher in human resources compared to 2003.

Since launching in 2003, the Sao Khue Award, sponsored by the Ministry of Information and Communications, has become the most prestigious IT field in the country. — VNS