Conference scene.

Vietnam's industry is still in the process of assembly

The seminar "Improving smart production capacity and developing the digital technology industry in the direction of Make in Vietnam" within the framework of the Annual High-Level Forum on Industry 4.0 in 2023, took place on May 12, 2020.

On June 14, Nguyen Hong Son, Deputy Head of the Central Economic Commission, said that according to Ericsson's forecast, by 2025 the Asia-Pacific region will attract two-thirds of global manufacturers, in which the leaders belongs to smart manufacturing industries.

Currently, seven countries in the region, including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, have deployed the production of 5G smart technology devices. Vietnam is also evaluated by Ericsson as an attractive destination, with revenue from the 5G industry estimated at $1.54 billion by 2030.

In UNIDO's report on industrialization in the digital age, Vietnam is ranked among the digital technology consumer economies, among 40 economies actively pursuing Industry 4.0. Vietnam's digital equipment and technology imports ranked 15th, technology exports ranked 46th and patent activity ranked 48th out of 150 economies.

However, according to a study by the World Bank for East Asia and the Pacific, published in November 2021, in Vietnam's manufacturing industry, 70% of products are created using man-made machines. operator, 20% are manual, only 9% use computer-controlled machines and less than 1% use more advanced technology such as robotics, 3D additive manufacturing.

The report of CSIRO and the Ministry of Science and Technology published in March 2021 also shows that only a small part of Vietnamese enterprises participate in innovation activities; the rate of enterprises having R&D in manufacturing industries is still very low such as electrical equipment manufacturing industry 17%, chemical manufacturing industry 15%, food processing industry 9%, manufacturing high-grade products from rubber and plastics 7%, leather and related products 6%, textile 5%.

Thus, it can be seen that the development of smart manufacturing in Vietnam is facing many opportunities and challenges.

Nguyen Thien Nghia, Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Information Technology - Communication Industry (Ministry of Information and Communications), said that from experience from some Asian countries, industrial development such as Korea, Japan, China, etc. basically, industrial development has three stages. Phase 1 is outsourcing and assembly to take advantage of human resources, and competitive costs. Phase 2 is to make integrated products, step by step join the supply chain, manage production, and optimize processes. And phase 3 is to make products, and to own some core technologies.

The Vietnamese industry is still in the first stage of outsourcing and assembly and starting to make integrated products. Therefore, smart manufacturing will play an important role in automating processes, optimizing production costs and quickly having products for users.

Digital technology enterprises must be at the center

It can be seen that promoting the shift from assembly and processing to product production in the direction of Make in Vietnam; innovation in Vietnam, design in Vietnam and manufacture in Vietnam; development, master production technology, promote R&D; developing the creative industry and digital content ecosystem in Vietnam; Policies to support businesses, especially traditional enterprises, manufacturing enterprises to convert to smart production, provide products and services on digital platforms, etc., are issues that need special attention.

According to Phan Thi Thanh Ngoc, Director of Digital Transformation Consulting, VNPT-IT Information Technology Company, VNPT's point of view on fast and sustainable digital technology development is a combination of resilience and resilience and international cooperation, there is a combination of a strong state and strong market. Along with that, digital technology enterprises must be the center, taking quality and the Make in Vietnam brand as the foundation. Talented human resources are the key.

“From the perspective of businesses, VNPT has made five proposals on policies to develop Vietnam's digital technology industry, including preferential policies for digital technology enterprises Make in Vietnam; quality control policy for digital technology products and services Make in Vietnam; promotion and demand promotion; attracting FDI and training and developing digital technology human resources”, a representative of VNPT said.

Also according to Phan Thi Thanh Ngoc, along with special preferential policies for Make in Vietnam digital technology enterprises (such as corporate income tax incentives; import tax incentives; loan incentives), it is also necessary to have a policy to control the quality of Make in Vietnam digital technology products and services through unified criteria for national digital transformation platforms or principles and criteria for identifying digital plat for Vietnamese digital technology products and services need to limit  foreign ownership.