The fourth industrial revolution has strongly affected every sector of the economy and subsequently promoted digital transformation. ASEAN countries have been working hard to adopt smart production. In Vietnam, the Prime Minister issued a directive on enhancing the capacity to access and adopt Industry 4.0 technologies.
The Politburo issued a resolution that gave orientations for making national industrial development policies until 2030 with a vision to 2045. The Prime Minister approved the national programme on supporting businesses to improve productivity and goods quality for 2021-2030, which includes the promotion of smart manufacturing.
In 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) proposed an initiative to build a roadmap and adopt solutions to foster smart production in Southeast Asian countries. Vu Thi Tu Quyen, an official from MST’s Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality, said the results of the agency’s survey of smart manufacturing methods pointed out the importance of smart manufacturing solutions in the region amid ongoing global trends. The survey was conducted with 93 enterprises from ten ASEAN countries.
According to a news report, Industry 4.0 has shown that promoting the development of digital production by boosting the digitalisation of and connectivity between products, value chains, and business models will contribute to GDP growth.
The official cited many reports suggesting that to increase workplace productivity, fostering production by linking machinery, data, and value chains towards digital transformation and smart manufacturing is crucial.
Smart production is forecast to grow strongly in the ASEAN region from 2025, Quyen added. ASEAN countries have been taking different steps in accessing and promoting smart production, proving that Vietnam’s initiative to build a roadmap and adopt solutions to foster smart production in the region is necessary and more practical than ever.
Meanwhile, MST adopted a national science and technology programme, and “Make in Vietnam” was launched by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to step up digital transformation and the domestic ICT industry.
Nghiem Xuan Thanh, the Chairman of the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), stressed that in its development strategy for 2030 and with a vision to 2045, the bank looks to become the leading financial banking group in the country. Further, it aims to be one of the 50 largest banks in Asia and one of the top 200 financial banking groups in the world.
To that end, it will bolster digital transformation, improve operational efficiency, invest resources in innovation, science-technology development, and strengthen cooperation with foreign partners in technology transfer.
The report on the roadmap and solutions to boost smart manufacturing in ASEAN noted that many member countries have been implementing policies to support and facilitate smart production to make breakthroughs for their economies.
The ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality (ACCSQ) is the body coordinating with partners and relevant committees of ASEAN in this regard. As Chair of ACCSQ, Vietnam is responsible for working closely with other member countries to effectively carry out the roadmap and solutions to boost smart production in the region, thus contributing to regional integration and assisting enterprises to develop sustainably.
OpenGov Asia had earlier reported that the country’s digital economy will likely reach US$52 billion in value by 2025. With the gross merchandise value (GMV) of its Internet economy accounting for over 5% of the country’s GDP in 2019, Vietnam is emerging as the most digital of all economies in the region.
