HCM City (VNA) – Domestic and foreign experts gathered at theVietnam Digital Economy Forum 2018 (VDEF 2018) on November 1 to share strategicvisions, practical experiences of the sector’s forerunners, and the indispensibletrends of modern digital economy.

The event was jointly held by the Association of Vietnamese Scientists andExperts (AVSE Global), Quang Trung Software City, and the Ho Chi Minh CityInstitute for Development Studies under the theme “Challenges and strategicsolutions for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Fourth IndustrialRevolution”.

According to Vu Ngoc Anh, founder of the VDEF, the French Government and largeurban areas of Paris, Lyon and Lille have taken the initiative with measures toensure that small- and medium-sized enterprises become the driving force for economicgrowth during the digital development process.

The global economy has been radically altered due to the impact of the FourthIndustrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), he said, adding that new economic modelshave resulted in noticeable shifts within various industries, fromtelecommunications, entertainment, education, and training, to transportation,distribution, wholesales, and retail sales.

Although digitised models have created benefits for local people, they bearcontradictions and fundamental changes in traditional business models, he said,laying stress on the need for rational administrative tools and policies tobalance short-term and long-term advantages.

Meanwhile, Andre Laperriere, CEO of the UN Global Open Data on Agriculture andNutrition (GODAN), said that the GODAN programme has set up cooperative tieswith 800 governmental and non-governmental organisations and businesses from100 countries worldwide.


GODAN wants to work with Vietnam to share its experiencein using open data to improve food safety and hygiene, contributing to improvingnutritional awareness and reducing diseases among local residents.

In addition, research from the University of Oxford and McKinsay & Companyshows that 50 percent of jobs in developing countries will be altertered byautomation in the next 15 years. Thus, human resources training has become a moreurgent matter if it is to meet the requirements of the digital economy, hesaid.

Ryan Jacildo, an economist at the Asia Desk of the Organisation for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD), for his part, said that Vietnam should makechanges to its human resources training policies, payment systems, and consumerrights policies that enable them to capitalise on digitisation and maintain thestable and high economic growth which has been achieved in the past time. –VNA