Starting from 2021, the Ministry of Information and Communications will raise key issues to call for agencies and enterprises in the information technology and communications (ICT) industry to propose solutions.

This is considered a key move for boosting digital transformation and realizing the national strategy of digital economy and society.

Vietnamese leading businesses are required to have initiatives for boosting digital economy. Photo: VNPT

The information was released by Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung at a recent meeting taking stock of the first quarter.

Minister Hung ordered businesses in the sector to build a new-generation social network: from a centralized to a distributed model, so as for users to own their data instead of the network operator.

The new social network with a small scale will be more customer-oriented, and even paid, he said.

“This is an opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to develop a new generation social network,” Minister Hung emphasized.

He also asked the businesses to develop a new-generation search engine, would return reliable and usable answers instead of millions of answers. The search engine needs to be user friendly and enable voice search, Hung said.

He also placed the third order which is building personal data in the digital environment.

The fourth order is digital transformation platforms for all industries. The list of these platforms will be published in the second quarter of this year.

Minister Hung said the information and communication industry will focus on digital transformation over 5 years, 10 years and beyond. The Ministry has also proposed to the government to change its current name to better reflect its functions and duties in the new situation.

The year 2021 is the first year that the information and communication sector will implement national strategies, such as digital infrastructure strategy, postal infrastructure, digital technology enterprise development, digital government, digital economy and society, national cybersecurity, and press digital transformation.

“These strategies will basically be approved this year,” Hung said.