In 2024, Vietnam's digital economy saw a major uptick in interest in artificial intelligence (AI).

Vietnam can unlock the digital economy across sectors through the effective use of AI-powered solutions.

The growth of Vietnam's esports market is highlighted in the Vietnam Esports White Book 2022-2023, which outlines global trends.

Hanel Company Limited will start work o­n building the Hanoi software park this April.

In the current context of globalization, businesses should actively apply e-commerce to achieve success, said Hoang Van Dung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

The Ministry of Science and Technology has said that a trace of radioactive iodine-131 was detected in Vietnam’s air, but the amount is low and does not pose a threat to human health.

For the first time a truck carrying Internet-connected computers, 1500 books, teaching-aid tools and toys will travel to disadvantaged communes in Hanoi to serve nearly 4,000 students for three years.The Singaporean International Foundation has launched the “Mobile Library – Wheel of Knowledge” project, which will be carried out for three years in ten suburban communes, which are 25-80km from Hanoi’s center.The mobile library is equipped with over 1500 book titles in Vietnamese and English, toys, educational games, teaching-aid tools, etc. from Singaporean companies, and six computers with Internet connection. The truck will go to ten suburban communes in Hanoi o­n Saturday and Sunday.The ten poor communes include Phu Nghia, Bach Thach, Noi, Thang Tri, Luong Chau, Chu Son, Hoang Xa, Dai Dong, Phu Luu Te and Nam Hong, where most families earn less than VND900,000 ($45) a month.The truck will go to schools or local cultural houses to serve pupils. According to the project developers, Singaporean International Foundation and the Hanoi Library, around 4,000 kids will benefit from this project in three years.Jean Tan, Executive director of the Singaporean International Foundation, hopes that the project will be the bridge and inspiration to build a reading culture among children. Teachers can search for information and toys from the Internet to enrich their lectures. Children can watch cartoons or play educational games o­n computers. Volunteers from Keppel Land and the Singaporean International Foundations organize games for kids.

The Research and Markets website forecasts that the payment card market in Vietnam will grow at about 18.5 percent during the 2011- 2014 period.In the March report "Vietnam Plastic Card Market Forecast to 2013" available at http://www.researchandmarkets.com, it says Vietnam’s payment card market is relatively small, but o­ne of the most dynamic in the world.The payment card market in Vietnam, which includes both credit and debit cards, has been growing rapidly in the past few years, fuelled by the continuous rise of the young population, technological developments, and the emerging trend of e-commerce, it said.According to the report, Vietnam is still dominated by cash payments, but it pointed out that continuous government support and the rapidly increasing population have significantly contributed to the decrease in cash payments across the country and encouraged people to use alternative non-cash methods of payment.The total number of cards issued in Vietnam nearly doubled in the 2008-2010 period. Debit cards dominate the market, whereas credit cards are relatively new and account for less than 1.5 percent of the market.The market for credit cards in Vietnam remains largely untapped and full of immense opportunities for card issuers, suppliers, and manufacturers, the report said, reasoning that the cards are increasingly used in shopping malls and various o­n-line portals trading luxury, world-class brands of consumer goods.

The ASEAN-Republic of Korea Center (AKC) has said that it will build a Korean-language program for websites of tourist agencies of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar in 2011 to help Korean people gain easy access to tourist information of these countries.

The first made-in-Vietnam 500 kV transformer is ready to be put into operation, Tran Van Quang, general director of the Dong Anh Electrical Equipment Manufacturing Joint Stock Company (EEMC) said .

However, Le Truong Tung, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Informatics Association, President of FPT University, said that 60,000 is the quota granted by the Ministry of Education and Training to schools, while it is not the actual number of students.

The Hanoitimes - While the real benefits of 3G are still being debated, 4G wireless technology is soon to hit the Vietnamese telecommunications market, further adding to the confusion.

The Ministry of Information and Communication has asked internet service providers to block access to o­n-line games each day from 10pm to 8am by March 3.The request, made o­n Feb. 16, is another move from the authority to mitigate the side effects of o­nline games."Provincial departments of information and communication will inspect o­n-line games activities nationwide and deal with organisations that violate regulations by cancelling their services," said the ministry's Deputy Minister Le Nam Thang.Internet management should be improved in a way that both meets the demand for information and ensures internet security while not affecting the lifestyle and customs of young people, said Thang.The request follows numerous stiff measures by the ministry to tackle the issue, including cutting internet access to agents at night beginning last September.Some o­n-line game service providers like VTC Intercom and Asiasoft said that the (internet access block) measure reduced entertainment access to adults who have paid a lot for internet access.They also said it created difficulties for the maintenance of o­n-line games.In addition to the temporary measure for o­n-line gaming and internet agency management, the ministry plans to revise the decree this year in order to make improvements in the near future.Vietnam currently has around 23 million internet users, accounting for 26 percent of the total population, according to the ministry.

The Vietnam National Institute of Software and Digital Content Industry and the Core Technology Development Centre of Japan’s Panasonic System Networks Co. Ltd. will cooperate in the development of core technology.

The Internet is developing strongly in Vietnam and the country always creates favourable conditions for Internet activities, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Nga. 

TOSY Robotics Joint Stock Company, a Vietnamese robotics firm, is negotiating with leading US distributors including Knotts, Topp Toy, and Preziosi to export its high-tech toys to the US market. 

Vietnam is going to launch its first national e-health plans this year, the Ministry of Health has said. Director of the Department of Medical Services Administration Luong Ngoc Khue told the English-language daily Vietnam News that a national telemedicine service and a synchronous electronic medical records system will be set up in four years' time under the plans. The telemedicine service is awaiting approval from the Minister of Health and the Prime Minister and the blueprints for the records system will be completed soon, he said. The telemedicine project will connect all central hospitals and many provincial hospitals across the country using video conferencing technology. A national website will also be set up so that everyone could access health information, wherever they are, said Khue. The plan will need more than 90 billion VND (4.5 million USD) for its first phase (2011-13), of which 60 percent is to come from the State budget and the other 40 percent from the hospitals themselves. In the second phase (2014-15), a partly subsidised tele-medical service will be kicked off, he said. Meanwhile, the second project will bring into operation electronic health records and medical services administration by 2014. Khue said health records will be standardised and shared o­nline, which will make it easier for people to receive health checks and treatment in different hospitals and, at the same time, improve the quality of record-based diagnosis and treatment. The project will involve a portal o­n which electronic health records are stored with systems providing public services o­nline, including granting medical licences to qualified organisations and individuals. "It will make it more convenient for both health service providers and users," he said. The project is expected to cost the Government 26 billion VND (1.3 million USD). E-health is already popular in many countries around the world. As for Vietnam , with 70 percent of the population living in rural areas and 32 percent with access to internet services, many experts see great potential for e-health and long-distance medicine. Khue said e-health has already started in Vietnam but remains isolated with a lack of connections between healthcare centres. The National Children's Hospital and Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi are the leaders in this area, according to the Health Ministry. The National Children's Hospital, for instance, rolled out an electronic health records and medical services administration system in 2003 and has held telemedicine conferences with international partners as well as local hospitals since 2005. A lot of health research resources have also been made available o­n the hospital's website (www.nhp.org.vn), which is another form of e-health, according to a representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Vietnam , Jean Marc Olive. Experts believe the Health Ministry's telemedicine project will be of great use. Four-fifths of healthcare needs in Vietnam are from rural areas while provincial and communal health centres lack skilled human resources, according to the Health Ministry. This will also ease the overloaded central hospitals.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has stressed Vietnam’s priority to information technology (IT) with incentives o­n investment in infrastructure and human resource development. At the discussion o­n achieving goals: macro and micro strategy at the 41st World Economic Forum meeting in Davos o­n Jan. 27, Deputy PM Nhan said Vietnam is among the top 20 countries in terms of the number of internet users and application of latest IT.The Vietnamese Government has adopted a project to turn the country into an IT and communications power, with software, IT content and service industry identified as the spearhead economic sector, he said.Nhan also reported that Vietnam targets by 2020 to have about 1 million skilled labourers working in the IT industry, with 80 percent of them capable of working in international environment.In Vietnam , all schools from primary level have access to the Internet, which he described as an essential condition for immediate and long-term IT human resource development.About 226,000 labourers work in the IT industry in Vietnam, including 121,000 involving in the hardware technology, 64,000 in software and 41,000 others in digital content technology, he added.Within the framework of the 41st WEF annual meeting that opened o­n Jan. 26, the Vietnamese delegation took part in 4 sessions and discussions.

The Hanoitimes -  Japanese office equipment maker Canon Vietnam is o­n track for high export profits this year, despite concerns over Vietnam’s high inflation and exchange rate risks.

The Hanoitimes -  The IT 2010 forum focused o­n Vietnamese IT services will take place in Hanoi over December 22-23.

 

The Hanoitimes -  The US Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Glyn Davies said that at least six countries want to be chosen as the contractor of Vietnam’s first nuclear power plants.