According to a press statement released by the Ministry of Information and Communications, the country is ready for new technological models, through piloting policies, that will help boost technology businesses.
The number of technology companies is expected to double from the existing 50,000 over the next 5 years.
Vietnam’s Minister of Information and Communications said that suitable policies and mechanisms have been put in place to foster the growth of tech firms. The recent national forum was the initial step to form a national strategy for the development of a technology business community in the country.
As reported earlier, the Make In Vietnam forum was the first of its kind and a step in the direction of a more holistic relationship between the private and public sectors of the country.
The event brought together technology businesses, start-ups, and consulting, technological, transferring, and traditional companies that have adequate resources and are keen to digitalise their core functions.
The government will consider the suggestions proposed at the forum to formulate the most effective national strategy to develop Vietnamese tech firms. The government is thinking about long-term plans where ministries and industries will improve standards for Vietnamese products and increase their competitiveness.
The Minister said that the government should not subsidise these companies but assign to them more challenging tasks so that they have an opportunity to mature and develop sustainably.
In line with the Make in Vietnam mission, the Minister said that there must be close cooperation among three specific groups of start-up stakeholders that create innovative technology products. Firstly, start-up technology firms, which leverage current technologies to develop new products or solutions for other companies. Secondly, giants in the field like the FPT Group and CMC. And lastly, companies that work in other fields of commerce, services, real estates, and telecommunications but now intend to invest more heavily in technology.
A start-up business, made up of a few graduates, may earn an income of a few million dollars. However, it is unable to manufacture a telecommunications device with at the value of millions of dollars. Tech giants can fulfil this need with little difficulty.
The Minister said that Vietnam welcomes new technological models, though people normally resist new ideas as these conflict with current ones. The situation between Grab and traditional taxi companies is an example. The reality proves that novelty often leads to impressive results.
Recently, the new model of sandbox was introduced, where models are piloted during a period in a certain location for evaluation, for example, telecommunications. At the beginning of 2019, the government agreed to experiment using a telecommunications account to pay for the goods of small value through Mobile Money despite a significant impact on the bank.
The Minister said that the government is willing to pilot new models like fintech, techno-taxi or the sandbox policy.
When evaluating the level of the Vietnamese human resources in the technology field, the Minister said that challenges from their jobs will require the workforce to upgrade themselves. They should reskill and upskill to meet the demands of their work.
Vietnam also has a strong IT community in foreign countries, and that attracting them to start up their own business in Vietnam or contribute their part to the country’s tech firms will help foster growth.
