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.

Europe’s NAO will be in Ho Chi Minh City from October 4-6. The world’s most intelligent robot will perform some of its interesting functions like moving, holding objects, introducing itself in Vietnamese and dancing to the local music at three major industrial exhibitions.

Fining telecommunication and internet services providers that violate copyright laws is proving difficult in Vietnam even though the necessary legal system is in place.

Vietnam wants to see meaningful development, the country needs to shift away from extensive reliance o­n human labour and natural resources and use more advanced technology.

Vietnam has studied France’s experiences in managing telecom activities, restructuring telecoms businesses and organising communications, broadcasting and television networks, as well as e-publications during a France visit by the Minister of Information and Communications.

The Hanoitimes -  The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC)  in Hanoi released Vietnam’s 2012 White Book on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

E-commerce offers a wealth of potential development opportunities for both service providers and companies using o­nline business services.

This species of plant appears in forests in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. It is a genus of epiphytic myrmecophytes (ant plants) native to Southeast Asia, the Pacific region and also extending into Queensland in northern Australia. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek hydnon "tuber," and phyton "plant," after their appearance with their swollen succulent stems. The species grows in tree branches and o­n trunks. Like the related genus Myrmecodia, they are known as “antplants” or ant-house plants. They form a symbiotic relationship with ants. Ant plants provide habitats for ant colonies high up into the forest canopy, protecting them from the elements and also predators because of the spines. Hollow, smooth-walled tunnels form within the caudex with external entrance holes, providing an above-ground home for ant colonies. Ants likewise provide defense for the plant and prevent tissue damage, swarming to defend their home if disturbed. Ant colonies also provide nutrients to the plants by leaving wastes within the tunnels inside the caudex. Special glands lining the tunnels then absorb nutriment for the plant. This symbiosis allows the plants to effectively gather nutrients (via the ants) from a much larger area than the roots ever could cover. These plants can be grown in cultivation without the ant species being present.

The Hanoitimes -  The fourth Elenex Vietnam exhibition will return to Sai Gon Exhibition&Convention Center o­n September 19 – 21 with the participation of 260 international and local exhibitors.

The Hanoitimes -  Jobstreet.com, one of Southeast Asia's leading employment websites, has launched a mobile application Jobstreet.com Mobile App to help jobseekers in Vietnam.The Jobstreet.com Mobile App, the first of its kind in Vietnam, offers a unique way for iPhone users to search for jobs on the website, apply for them and share information with friends.Jobstreet.com is a recruitment website available in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. It has more than 200,000 business users and over 10 million applicants.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has written to the Government Office asking for a halt to an internet development project for the benefit of rural communities.In Dispatch 2659/BNN-KH, the ministry stressed the target of the project was beyond actual demand, so it could be hardly obtained. In addition, the components of the project overlap other projects and programs that the ministry is executing.The project was initiated in 2008, but up to now it has yet to get going due to the huge cost of network infrastructure, making it difficult to recover capital, said the ministry.According to the ministry, as of April 20, the Authority of Information Technology Application under the Ministry of Information and Communications had o­nly finished an evaluation of the technical solution consultancy package and the component of the agriculture ministry.After four years, the project has met 4.5% of the plan. Therefore, the agriculture ministry and the information ministry have agreed to stop the execution of the project.The agriculture ministry said the VND58.9 billion originally planned to be used for the component of the ministry will be transferred to more efficient projects.Internet development in rural Vietnam is a project invested by the information ministry, with total capital of nearly VND297 billion. The project was scheduled to last from 2008 to 2013.

Experts believe that Vietnam is in no way inferior to developed countries in term of Internet service development.

The Hanoitimes -  A forum was held this week by EMC, a leading provider of storage solutions, focusing o­n cloud computing, the latest wave of innovation in information technology, and how it was poised to change the IT industry in VietnamAt the forum, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Minh Hong expressed appreciation for the new solutions being introduced by leading global IT companies to assist Vietnamese businesses and government agencies to apply cloud computing technology.

The Hanoitimes -  Facebook plans to roll out a new advertising tool that will allow companies to target existing customers based on their phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

With the domain name changed into “.com” from a Vietnamese domain name “.vn”, which allows avoiding the registration at Vietnamese agencies, Chinese Baidu’s social network “Baidu Tieba” has made debut o­n schedule.

The o­nline Nhan Dan (People) newspaper, the organ of the Communist Party of Vietnam, launched its Chinese language edition o­n August 30 in Hanoi. Addressing the launching ceremony, Politburo member and Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (CPVCC) Dinh The Huynh said the Chinese version will contribute to promoting Vietnam ’s history, culture, land and people to the world. Huynh, who is also Head of the CPVCC Commission for Popularisation and Education, said the Chinese version also introduces the Vietnamese Party and State’s external policy of independence, self-reliance, peace and friendship and its achievements in the renewal process and national construction and defence. The Chinese version at http://cn.nhandan.org.vn includes 11 columns reflecting different fields of the country, promoting Vietnam ’s land and people and the Vietnam-China friendship. The website has links with the Chinese news broadcast of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) Television Centre and Chinese editions of the VNA, Radio the Voice of Vietnam, and the o­nline CPV newspaper.

The Hanoitimes - When accessing Gmail.vn, Vietnamese Internet users were so surprised when they were led to a website of Baidu, China’s biggest Internet service firm.

The Hanoitimes -  Discussions on a new draft decree on e-commerce were held in the capital city today.According to Tran Huu Quynh, chairman of Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC), the draft is a good signal for e-commerce because it concentrates on establishing trustworthiness and ways of solving conflicts."Enterprises have expressed concerns about e-commerce security while consumers are afraid of running into troubles not completely covered in the previous decree," said Quynh."The lack of security has cost many enterprises hundreds of billions of dong – and consumers find no help when they get into trouble," Quynh added."The rapid development of e-commerce across the country calls for the update," said Legal Department of Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) chief Nguyen Tan Nhat Linh. "The draft decree is expected to become law next year."Tran Huu Linh, head of the E-commerce and Information Technology Agency said that more than 30 per cent of the population was now using the internet.At today's meeting, participants put forward suggestions on improving the draft decree.Doctor Ho Thuy Ngoc, an arbitrator from VIAC, said the draft did not clarify the regulations on e-commerce contracts.Lawyer Le Quoc Dat from Tri Tue Law Firm said commercial banks should be asked to guarantee e-commerce payments instead of the State Bank.According to Hanoi Bar Association laywer Bui Thanh Lam, many fraudulent activities have been occurring due to a shortage of information about e-commerce payment methods."The draft decree should provide clear guide lines for enterprises." said Lam.

The legal framework for e-commerce needs to be strengthened to cope with the rapid development of the industry, experts have said.Speaking at a conference in HCM City o­n Thursday to collect ideas for a new draft decree o­n e-commerce and the internet, Tran Huu Vinh Binh of the E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) said: "A decree issued in 2006 was the first law o­n e-commerce, but it is basic. [E-commerce] has developed strongly and laws should be amended."In 2006 e-commerce had been limited due to poor internet infrastructure, but now it has huge potential for development.A recent Yahoo survey found that in Vietnam the internet is the most popular source of information, being 2.5 times more popular than television.But it faces challenges like internet security, human resources, o­nline payment issues, awareness, and lack of laws.Binh also listed problems like taxing transactions when e-commerce can be done from anywhere in the world, managing group purchases and multi-level trading, and discovering and penalising violations."The new decree hopes to provide a transparent legal framework that secures the rights of all beneficiaries, encourages development of e-commerce, helps improve businesses' competitiveness, and develops good e-commerce habits that match international standards."Lai Nguyet Anh, his colleague, wondered how to manage foreign players who take part in e-commerce in Vietnam."How should we define foreigners – those who have representative offices in Vietnam or those who register websites with Vietnamese domain names?" she asked.The draft would allow individuals and organisations to set up websites to trade, and they merely need to inform the Ministry of Industry and Trade, she said. But websites that act as intermediaries, merely providing an environment for others to trade, have to register with the ministry, she added.But lawyer Phan Thong Anh from the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre did not want all individuals to be allowed the right to set up e-commerce websites. "To tighten management, o­nly business people should be allowed to open website for trade, and intermediary websites must be licensed by the ministry."For foreigners doing e-commerce in Vietnam, in case of disputes, Vietnamese laws must apply, he said.Hoang Van Son, head of Vina Code, a law firm, said anyone who wants to do multi-level commerce should be asked deposit a huge sum of money to prevent possible fraud.

Some countries are calling for the internet to be brought under the control of the UN International Telecommunications Regulations, but experts warn that a more tightly regulated regime could have a significant and detrimental impact on Asian countries, including Vietnam.

Bac Ninh Province is seeking Government approval to give investment incentives to an expansion project of Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) in which its capital will rise to US$1.5 billion from the current US$670 million.The province has written to the Prime Minister suggesting incentives for the investment expansion of SEV in the Yen Phong Industrial Park.The South Korean investor submitted the same proposal to the Government at the end of last year, saying it wanted to enjoy a corporate income tax rate of 10% during the project’s lifetime, a four-year corporate income tax exemption and a 50% reduction of the tax for the following nine years for all electric and electronics products of the project.In fact, the prevalent rule stipulates investment incentives are not given to capital increase projects.According to Bac Ninh’s report, the expansion project of SEV might be mulled for corporate income tax incentives as this is a high-tech investor. The company asa high-tech investor has enjoyed a preferential income tax rate of 10% for 15 years, a tax exemption for four years and a 50% tax reduction for the following nine years after it reports taxable incomes.The province proposed the Government give the above special treatment to the expanded part of the project based o­n the post-check mechanism. This means the Ministry of Science and Technology, in collaboration with related agencies, will evaluate the high-tech criteria of the expansion scheme and revoke all incentives if it fails to meet the conditions during the implementation process.At the same time, the investment incentives set aside for the expansion will be adjusted as well.According to Bac Ninh, the investment project to establish the Samsung technology complex in Vietnam is an enormous scheme and it has been deployed in line with schedule and commitments with the Government. The firm as of end-2011 had disbursed US$492 million into the project, and plans to continue injecting another US$684.7 million as of late 2012.The project this year has created jobs for 23,000 locals and has total output capacity of 100 million products for the whole year, with sales estimated to amount to US$10 billion including an export value of US$9.5 billion