The Viet Nam-Asia Digital Transformation (DX) Summit 2022 opened in Ha Noi yesterday, where experts are examining ways to further utilise the advantages of digitalisation for the economy and society.

The digital economy is making many important contributions to the global economy, said Nguyen Van Khoa, Viet Nam Software and IT Services Association (Vinasa) chairman.

Facing the trend towards digitalisation, many countries have taken the opportunity to develop the digital economy and have issued their own development strategies, he added.

The summit is organised by Vinasa under the direction and patronage of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Data from Google and Temasek shows that the Vietnamese internet economy achieved US$21 billion last year and contributed more than 5 per cent of the country's GDP.

Studies show that the growth rate of the Vietnamese digital economy is seven times higher than in 2015 and is expected to reach more than $57 billion by 2025, ranking second in Southeast Asia.

"Viet Nam is facing an opportunity to promote the internet economy, especially digital transformation platforms," ​​said Khoa.

Vinasa's chairman shared that the proportion of the digital economy in each industry and field was forecast to be about 20 per cent.

The Government's goal is for the digital economy to account for 20 per cent of GDP by 2025. By 2030, the corresponding figure is 30 per cent of GDP.

“This is the most challenging goal, especially for traditional industries, and requires the determination of everyone to participate,” he added.

Creating Vietnamese platforms

The Vinasa chairman shared that digital transformation has created a data resource.

Speaking at the summit, he said that in order to successfully realise the extremely challenging goal of the Prime Minister, Viet Nam's digital economy development needs cooperation from all political levels and economic components.

"Digital technology enterprises are making efforts to develop quality digital transformation platforms and solutions, invest in research and accelerate the application of new technologies, such as AI and blockchain. They are also making great efforts to work together in building a digital ecosystem to help agencies, organisations and businesses in digital transformation,” said Khoa.

In the framework of the event, Nguyen Trong Duong, deputy director of the Department of Enterprise Management, Ministry of Information and Communications, introduced in detail the Strategy for the development of the digital economy and digital society in Viet Nam.

The development of the digital economy and digital society is to bring the activities of people and businesses to the digital environment, said Duong.

The digital environment is a global environment, therefore Viet Nam's digital economy and digital society development strategy should be built on the basis of international references selectively, combined with Viet Nam's practice of clearly defining the concept of the digital economy and society.

The core, unique and different point of Viet Nam in the development of the digital economy and digital society was to bring the activities of people and businesses to the digital environment using Vietnamese digital platforms, he noted.

This was the guiding spirit of the strategy, which names 54 specific digital platforms. In these, 35 digital platforms will be prioritised to deploy first this year, he said.

The breakthrough point is the rapid dissemination of national digital platforms to serve the unique and specific needs of the Vietnamese people and enterprises, said Duong.

With the role of leading the implementation of the strategy of digital transformation, the Ministry of Information and Communications hopes to receive the cooperation of ministries, branches and localities to develop action plans.

Duong also called on the participation of the technology business community, to deploy and achieve the goals set out by the strategy.

The two-day forum is expected to attract more than 2,500 domestic and international delegates and more than 10,000 online followers.

The forum is an event to celebrate "Digital Transformation Day" on October 10, which the Prime Minister has just approved. — VNS