IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Due to various misunderstandings about the blockchain technology in Vietnam, it cannot enjoy sufficient investment and development boosts. Luckily, there have been many conferences on this topic lately to correct the prejudices and promote the appropriate uses of the technology in manufacturing, management, and especially in smart city establishment.

“Many blockchain application developers find it frustrated when the Vietnamese community usually link this technology to games or cryptocurrency only, which has left a rather negative impression. This has become the main obstacle to the growth of blockchain in the country. Not many people can recognize its usefulness in commerce or administration” said CEO Huynh Kim Tuoc of Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB, member of the HCMC Department of Science and Technology).

Facing the great waves of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Vietnam is keen on promoting e-government projects, and the government there has selected five main cities, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang, as pilot sites for smart city development, covering clean energy, environmental protection and transportation, according to Truong Gia Binh, chairman of FPT Group, the largest information technology service company in the country.

Binh told Digitimes in a recent exclusive interview that the information technology service market scale in Vietnam is estimated at US$16 billion a year, with an annual growth of 13% seen in 2017.

The vigorous growth of the internet and technology in Vietnam is expected to provide a platform to support the development of a digital economy.

CMC Corporation’s chair Nguyen Trung Chinh said that a digital economy involves all sectors of the economy based on the internet and internet protocol platforms.

Chinh said the implementation of a policy on a digital economy can help ASEAN countries increase their GDP by $1 trillion in the next 10 years.

The Government needs to change itself in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) in order to be able to govern the country in the digital age, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.

Addressing the Vietnam ICT Summit here yesterday, he said Vietnam has recorded marked achievements in e-Government building which began since 2000.

CrimsonLogic, a provider of e-government solutions and services, said the Vietnam government has contracted their services for a consultancy project that will see users of government services receiving improved services through enhanced e-governance capabilities.

A special central state authority under Ministry of National Defence, GISC is responsible to secure state confidential information and data in context of national security. It estimated that about VND 250-300 billion (US$12-14.4 million) investment would be needed to supply these digital signatures.

The demand for entrusted electronic signatures (E-Signature)in state bodies has increased in recent years,said Nguyen Dang Dao, deputy head of GISC’s technical department.

Dr Quach Tuan Ngoc, Director General, ICT Department, Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) told FutureGov that his department had benefited from using cloud computing. In a document released recently, the ICT department has instructed local education and training departments to shift to cloud computing. “We use Google and Viettel services,” said Ngoc.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a project dubbed ‘Training for rural workers by 2020’ aimed at training one million rural workers, including training and retraining 100,000 public servants officials annually.

To implement the programme, Ministry of Home Affairs will train 204,167 civil servants in the country under its project called ‘Training and retraining of civil servants of communes by 2020.

Vietnam's prime minister has approved a national broadband that aims to extend fixed broadband coverage to 40% of the population by 2020.

According to a Vietnam News report on Saturday, prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung wants 60% of those with broadband coverage to receive a minimum downlink speed of 25 Mbps. Under the plan, all public Internet access points will also be required to use a fixed broadband connection, with at least half wired up to a 50 Mbps service.

Nhan said the Vietnam Government Web Portal’s (VGP) constant renewal in content and design helps strengthen the communication between the government and people.

He likewise emphasized the need for VGP to ensure network security and database safety as well as maintaining a smooth information source.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has hailed Estonia’s experience in e-government building as a good lesson for Vietnam, while expressing his wish to cooperate with the European country in the field.

Addressing a reception for visiting Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser in Hanoi on September 14, PM Phuc highly appreciated Estonia’s e-government model, stating that Vietnam welcomes Estonian experts who could support the process of building its own e-government.

The country is rated 16th for the readiness to use e-government services (the indicator of the people’s attention and participation in the government’s e-government programs and services). This is a great jump for Vietnam compared to 2005, when it was ranked 63rd.

Connectivity Scorecard is a global ICT index – the first of its kind to rank 50 countries on ICT infrastructure and ‘useful connectivity’ – the extent to which governments, businesses and consumers use connectivity technologies to enhance social and economic prosperity.

The parties discussed principles and approaches for the formation of e-fovernment in Russia, design and technological solutions in the field of building infrastructure, as well as prospects for providing electronic public services to citizens of Russia and Vietnam.

“The introduction of the Ha Giang e-portal, www.hagiang.gov.vn, will create an important information channel to regularly update local guidelines and policies on socio-economic development, as well as national security and defense,” said Nguyen Van Son, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee and Head of the ICT Steering Committee, Ha Giang province.

He also added that this e-portal will also be an operating tool for the People’s Committee to provide online public administration services, and to connect business people and citizens with the government.

Vietnam launched an e-Cabinet system that will shift its governance from a paper-based working modal to an electric, modern, transparent, and efficient working environment.

According to a press release, the Vietnamese Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, has launched an e-Cabinet system that aims to shift governance from a paper-based working modal to an electric, modern, transparent, and efficient working environment.

According to Deputy Head of the General Department of Customs’ Reform Board Tran Quoc Dinh, the initiative comes after seven years since the country first introduced e-customs procedures in customs offices located in Hoh Chih Min city and the northern Hai Phong City.

The government is to create a national database system and launch a national public service portal to enhance public service delivery

Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said the Vietnam government has recognised that developing the digital economy is one of the key tasks in enhancing the competitiveness of the economy.

Digital transformation efforts in Vietnam have yielded the biggest improvement among regional economies, according to an industry study of 11 Asia-Pacific markets.

Vietnam saw the highest increase in scores between 2016 and 2019, in the digital society index study carried out by mobile operator industry player GSMA Intelligence.