(VOVWORLD) - The 4th Industrial Revolution and the COVID-19 pandemic have generated both challenges and opportunities for multiple sectors and forced businesses to renovate, apply advanced technology, and digitalize to survive and develop. Delegates to the recent Vietnam Economic Forum 2022 agreed that Vietnam has effectively taken advantage of technology innovation and digital transformation to speed up its development, even at the most difficult period.
 Loc Troi Group uses drones to spray pesticides on rice fields to reduce labor. (photo: VNA) |
A big number of businesses have renovated to adapt to the rapid development of technology.
Since 2019 Loc Troi Group has become a pioneer in building a sustainable agriculture value chain in Vietnam. It has given thousands of smart phones to farmers for production and consumption.
The company has used software for 80% of its operation from office management to farming procedures, production monitoring, and consumption. Loc Troi is the first business to create a Carbon certificate for Vietnamese rice and a Green Carbon certificate for rice in southeast Asia.
Investment in digitalization and technology innovation has helped Loc Troi Group expand production of rice-based products, stabilize its traditional markets in the Philippines and Africa, and penetrate European countries.
General Director Nguyen Duy Thuan said: “Loc Troi Group has applied the criteria of paperless office and footprintless field. Particularly, we have applied production with cashless transaction in the 110,000 ha rice field in An Giang province. Some localities have created digital maps for farming. It’s the first step to create large fields and higher agricultural production efficiency on a larger scale.”
Nguyen Nam Hai, Director of the Department of Financial Planning of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said the total value of high-tech products for export increased from 19% to 50% during the last ten years. In order to produce high quality products, it’s necessary to invest in advanced technology and production, said Mr. Hai.
“More than 3,000 businesses in Vietnam’s innovative startup ecosystem have reported a total investment of over 1 billion USD in the last 3 years. The figure is three times higher than that in 2017,” Mr. Hai said.
Vietnam has adopted several incentives and policies to encourage businesses to import technology, particularly in spear head sectors. Dr. Tran Thi Hong Minh, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said besides investment in technology, it’s necessary to connect value added chains, reduce costs, and meet the goals of the national development strategy.
The science and technology market should link with the commodity, labor, and financial markets while financial incentives should be in place to promote innovation in both the public and private sectors and multilateral cooperation.
Dr. Tran Thi Hong Minh said: “Being members of multilateral organizations and joining free trade agreements give us opportunities to increase trade. Vietnam can participate in dialogues to help our businesses enter global supply chains.”
Economists say as the pandemic is put under control, it’s necessary to deepen cooperation, improve sectoral value chains which have potential and advantages, and create breakthrough mechanisms for science, technology, and innovation in order to improve productivity, quality, efficiency, and competitiveness.
 Nguyen Hoang Giang, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology (Photo: VGP) |
Nguyen Hoang Giang, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, said big changes are needed to enable Vietnamese businesses to fully engage in the global production chains and gain higher economic efficiency.
“Vietnam should participate in and support multilateral mechanisms while revising economic frameworks to engage in dialogues to solve regional problems and minimize risks in the global supply chains. In order to raise their position in the supply chain, businesses should invest in high-technology human resources and accelerate digitalization to serve the product development chains,” Mr. Giang said.
Vietnam aims to further strengthen the important role of science, technology, and innovation in developing spear head industries, processing and manufacturing in order to restructure the economy toward modernity and turn Vietnam into a modern industrialized country.