Vietnam wants to have 10 tech “unicorns” in 2030

Vietnam wants to have at least five billion-dollar tech firms (unicorns) by 2025 and 10 by 2030 as planned in its draft on national strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Vietnam wants to have 10 tech “unicorns” in 2030 ảnh 1Vietnam wants at least 20 percent of firms to adopt Industry 4.0 by 2025 and 40 percent by 2030 (Photo: vietnamfinance.vn)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam wants to have at least five billion-dollar techfirms (unicorns) by 2025 and 10 by 2030 as planned in its draft on nationalstrategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Under the draft announced by theMinistry of Planning and Investment (MPI), thetotal social investment into research and development (R&D) is expected toaccount for 1.5 percent of GDP by 2025. Vietnam will be in the top 30countries in the world in terms of number of patents in the prioritisedtechnology sectors.

Inaddition, Vietnam targets to have at least five companies by 2025 and 10 firmsby 2030 with exports of products and services using Industry 4.0 technologiesor next generation such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), artificialintelligence and data analysis to G7 countries.

Thecountry wants at least 20 percent of firms to adopt Industry 4.0 by 2025 and40 percent by 2030.

Inprioritised sectors, the rate of businesses applying at least one Industry 4.0technology will reach 30 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2030.

Areasthat need to be prioritised in technology transformation are publicadministration, utilities, healthcare, education, manufacturing, agriculture,logistics, trade, information technology, and finance and banking.

Vietnamneeds to rank at least 30th in the Global Innovation Index, it said. Thecountry now ranks 42nd.

Tosuccessfully implement the strategy, the draft provides two plans, includingrenaming the National Steering Committee on economic restructuring andinnovating growth model to National Steering Committee for growth and Industry4.0. It will establish a National Committee on Industry 4.0.

Vietnamis among countries least prepared for the Fourth Industrial Revolution,according to a World Economic Forum report released last year. It ranks low interms of education, human resources, innovation, and technology – all crucialfactors in the revolution – it said.

Regardingeconomic institutions serving the participation of Industry 4.0, Vietnam'sinstitutional quality is underestimated. Vietnam ranked 94th out of 140 economieson the Institutional Index in the WEF Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 releasedin 2018.

In termsof technology infrastructure, the country’s 4G foundation has been relativelywell developed. In addition, Vietnam has a young and well trained labourforce, especially in the information and technology – a foundation for Industry4.0.

Thelabour force has been highly valued by global IT firms. They have been animportant factor for many Vietnamese IT companies to expand their operationswhile many foreign businesses have established R&D centres in the country.

However, Vietnamfaces a shortage of engineers with management ability.

In recentyears, the innovation ecosystem in Vietnam has seen strong development with theparticipation of start-up incubators. Some start-ups have proved their abilityin creating new products and services which were accepted worldwide, using BigData, AI and other Industry 4.0 technologies to create added-value for customers.

Vietnamhas a group of big IT firms. Many leading companies have invested in Industry4.0 technologies, mainly in cloud computing and data analysis. However, themain revenue of the IT sector came from software outsourcing activities.Meanwhile, companies have been cautious in investing in Industry 4.0technologies and applying breakthrough ideas.

Accordingto MPI’s calculations, the Fourth Industrial Revolution could bring significanteconomic benefits.

By 2030,the country’s GDP could grow to 62.1 billion USD depending on theapplication of technologies, equalling 7 to 16 percent of GDP in comparisonwith not participating in Industry 4.0.

Therevolution was expected to change the job structure of the economy by adding1.1 to 1.3 million jobs to the country. The labour productivity would beincreased by 315-640 USD per labourer by 2030.

Tran NgocThai Son, founder of Tiki – one of largest e-commerce floors in Vietnam –believed that Vietnam would be country of “unicorns” in the next five years.

Investmentfunds also shared the same idea. Dzung Nguyen, director of Cyber Agent Vietnam- Thailand said the quality of Vietnamese start-ups has improved. Investmentfunds therefore have paid more attention to the market. Start-ups which couldcall on capital of several tens of millions of dollars are not far away.

However,businesses said the problem wais that the legal corridor has not kept up withthe development of start-ups.

Tran NguyenLe Van, founder of Vexere.com said when launching the onlineticket selling model, he had an ambition of becoming a unicorn in the future.However, he faced challenges of laws and regulations.

Start-upmeans starting a business with unprecedented models, while the legal frameworkhas not caught up. So it will be difficult for start-ups to see significantdevelopment, he said.

Thoughthe Government has commitments to facilitate start-ups in the coming years,firms and investors are still waiting for changes in the legal corridor.

To date,VNG Corporation became Vietnam’s first ever unicorn tech start-up and wasvalued at 1 billion USD by the World Start-up Report in 2014.-VNS/VNA
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