Innovation and creation are strategic and decisive factors for Vietnam's success of digital economic transformation.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Hong Hai speaks
at the Internet Day 2019. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyet 

That was the message from Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Hong Hai at the Internet Day 2019.

He was speaking as the Vietnam Internet Association marked Internet Day 2019 with a conference titled “Internet Vietnam: Innovation for digital transformation” in Hanoi on December 11.

The deputy minister said the country had been witnessing the birth of many tech businesses operating in a number of fields with new business models this year.

This clearly affirmed the determination of many businesses in becoming digital service providers and pioneering in the creation of digital society, he said.

This year also marked an important milestone in the research, application and development of 5G technology in Vietnam, Hai emphasised.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has licensed 5G trials for three major telecommunication businesses.

This would create an important infrastructure for the development of the digital economy and better meet the demand of increasing connectivity speed and scale.

The Prime Minister also assigned the Ministry of Information and Communications to take responsibility in researching, developing and submitting to the Government the national digital transformation plan.

The project would be an overall plan to move towards a comprehensive digital economy and society by 2030.

One of the tasks and solutions determined in the draft of the plan was to create an environment for developing digital products, digital services, and new business models; improving the capacity of innovation and developing digital businesses.

A report on the digital economy in Southeast Asia showed that Vietnam's digital economy has grown at 40 per cent a year, leading the region.

The country's global innovation index is ranked in 42nd place among 129 countries.

With a population of more than 96 million people and more than 60 million people using Internet services, Vietnamese users spend an average of more than six hours a day online.

About 94 per cent of internet users in the country use the internet daily.

“Looking at statistics, it can be seen that the majority of our economic and social activities take place online,” said the deputy minister of information and communications.

The internet had penetrated into all aspects of society; changed social awareness; created more innovative and effective business models; and accelerated the process of sustainable growth, he added.

Within the framework of the conference, the Vietnam cloud computing and data centre club was launched to promote the market of cloud computing services and the development of data centres nationwide.