Driving Vietnam’s Future Growth in the Digital Economy

Public and private sector leaders came together to examine how the country’s digital economy could be steered towards sustainable and inclusive growth.

Digital platforms have been critical in enabling business continuity and mitigating the pandemic’s economic fallout, and will continue to have an important role in supporting economic recovery and renewal in our post-pandemic reality.

This is even more so apparent in Vietnam. In 2020, against the downward trends of the global and regional economy, Vietnam’s digital economy grew by 16% – the highest in the ASEAN region (alongside Indonesia). It created revenues of USD 14 billion in 2020, accounting for about 1% of Vietnam’s GDP.

The Tech for Good Institute (TFGI)’s Platform Economy report shows that Vietnam has made good progress in enabling participation in the digital economy. In fact, of the surveyed MSMEs that are using platforms, 62% of their sales were enabled by these digital platforms – 5% higher than Singaporean enterprises at 57%. 

On 6 December 2021, TFGI brought together leaders from the public and private sectors in Vietnam to examine how its digital economy could be steered towards sustainable and inclusive growth. 

Speakers:

  • Dr. Vu Tien Loc, TFGI Advisory Board Member; President of Vietnam International Arbitration Centre & Chairman of the Research Council of Enterprise Development Foundation
  • Mr. Nguyen Trong Duong, Deputy Director-General, Department of Enterprise Management, Ministry of Information and Communications
  • Mr. Nguyen Hoa Cuong, Deputy Director, The Central Institute for Economic Management
  • Ms. Pham Khanh Linh – Founder & CEO, Logivan
  • Mr. Pham Nguyen Bach – CEO, bePOS 
  • Mr. Bùi Thế Giang – Former Ambassador and former Deputy Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations (Moderator)

Key takeaways 

  • The development of digital platforms and innovation technologies in Vietnam are a priority of the Party, State and Government. With the national economy development driven by digital platforms and businesses, further dialogue among stakeholders will be even more urgent during the country’s economic recovery from the pandemic. 
  • Vietnam’s large number of internet and smartphone users, and ‘golden population structure’ due to its ageing population have created potential market opportunities. However, it must also ensure that such new growth from the digital economy is fair and inclusive with appropriate regulatory frameworks, so that no one is left behind.
  • For Vietnam’s digital economy to develop in a sustainable manner, there must be cooperation among all stakeholders including regulators, academia, and the business community. This is also the case across Southeast Asia and on the international stage, where markets are growing and facing similar challenges as ours.

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Mouna Aouri

Programme Fellow

Mouna Aouri is an Institute Fellow at the Tech For Good Institute. As a social entrepreneur, impact investor, and engineer, her experience spans over two decades in the MENA region, South East Asia, and Japan. She is founder of Woomentum, a Singapore-based platform dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs in APAC through skill development and access to growth capital through strategic collaborations with corporate entities, investors and government partners.

Dr Ming Tan

Founding Executive Director

Dr Ming Tan is founding Executive Director for the Tech for Good Institute, a non-profit founded to catalyse research and collaboration on social, economic and policy trends accelerated by the digital economy in Southeast Asia. She is concurrently a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore and Advisor to the Founder of the COMO Group, a Singaporean portfolio of lifestyle companies operating in 15 countries worldwide.  Her research interests lie at the intersection of technology, business and society, including sustainability and innovation.

 

Ming was previously Managing Director of IPOS International, part of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, which supports Singapore’s future growth as a global innovation hub for intellectual property creation, commercialisation and management. Prior to joining the public sector, she was Head of Stewardship of the COMO Group and the founding Executive Director of COMO Foundation, a grantmaker focused on gender equity that has served over 47 million women and girls since 2003.

 

As a company director, she lends brand and strategic guidance to several companies within the COMO Group. Ming also serves as a Council Member of the Council for Board Diversity, on the boards of COMO Foundation and Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), and on the Digital and Technology Advisory Panel for Esplanade–Theatres on the Bay, Singapore’s national performing arts centre.

 

In the non-profit, educational and government spheres, Ming is a director of COMO Foundation and Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC) and chairs the Asia Advisory board for Swiss hospitality business and management school EHL. She also serves on  the Council for Board Diversity and the Digital and Technology Advisory Panel for Esplanade–Theatres on the Bay, Singapore’s national performing arts centre.

 

Ming was educated in Singapore, the United States, and England. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University and her doctorate from Oxford.