Google aids Vietnam’s digital transformation

Hanoi (VNA) – Google will help boost digital transformation in Vietnam through training courses, technical solutions and experts in two programmes supporting startups in technology and developing digital talent.

The Google Career Certificates and Google for Startups: Startup Academy programmes officially debuted on July 15 at the Vietnam National Innovation Centre (NIC) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

As a result of the cooperation between NIC and Google, the two aim to provide necessary support for Vietnam's digital transformation towards its socio-economic development goal for the 2021- 2030 period.

According to AlphaBeta’s report titled “Unlocking Vietnam’s digital potential”,  if leveraged fully in the economy, digital technologies can unlock 1,733 trillion VND (74 billion USD) in Vietnam by 2030. To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to about 27% of the country’s GDP in 2020. The largest projected beneficiaries are the manufacturing, agriculture and food, and education and training sectors.

The report identified three pillars of action for Vietnam to fully capture its digital opportunity, including to continue developing the local technology ecosystem and to digitally upskill workers and students.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an explosion in demand for online communication and working. In 2021, Vietnam recorded the birth of 5,600 new technology companies, prompting the need for digitally skilled workers in information technology and data analytics..However, training programs in the IT sector have yet to keep up with the soaring need for high-quality digital human resources, resulting in an increasing gap between supply and demand of digital skills on the job market.

Speaking at the debut, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong said that Vietnam’s innovative ecosystem is now in its critical development stage, which requires a lot of investment and in-depth support to develop innovative startups and build digital human resources of high quality and meeting international standards.

He expressed his confidence that the goals set for the programmes will be realised, helping startups develop technological solutions, creating positive changes, and spreading innovative spirit in Vietnam.

Stephanie Davis, vice president at Google Asia Pacific, affirmed the mission of providing digital opportunities for more people by helping to accelerate Vietnam’s digital transformation process.

The two programmes are meant to create opportunities for more people by facilitating access to digital jobs and supporting Vietnamese entrepreneurs to develop their businesses, Stephanie said.

The Google Career Certificates is launched on Coursera, a platform offering online courses, targeting learners with no experience or certain knowledge. It consists of five intensive courses on IT Support; Project Manager; Data Analytics; User Experience Design; and Digital Marketing and E-commerce.

Currently, Google is cooperating with NIC to offer 20,000 scholarships to students from more than 40 universities and vocational schools in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, under the Google Startups: Startup Academy Vietnam, 50 participating businesses have the opportunity to access in-depth training and meet leaders in the local and regional ecosystems.

The programme is a five-day, intensive onsite bootcamp for early-stage Vietnamese tech startups from all industries, preferred but not limited to education, healthcare, agriculture, fintech, gaming and retail. It is designed to fast-track high-potential Vietnamese tech startups by providing access to the best of Google's programmes, products, and best practices.

The five main elements that the programme focuses on are leadership skills, the latest models and trends, product management, technologies, and marketing.

The two new ones are a follow-up of the Google Start-up Launchpad Accelerators and Indie Games Accelerators programmes, which have been successfully implemented over the past six years.  

Deputy Minister Phuong expressed his belief that the two new programmes will achieve the set goals, thus creating positive changes and spreading the innovative spirit in Vietnam./.