Experts point out that Vietnam’s digital content firms have developed rapidly in both quantity and competitiveness in recent years. However, the Vietnamese market is small compared with the IT labor force.

About 49 percent of the world’s population of about 4 billion still don’t have an internet connection and cannot access digital services. This is a great opportunity for Vietnam’s digital technology firms to develop.

Nguyen Thien Nghia, deputy head of the Authority for ICT Industry, an arm of MIC, said that Vietnamese digital content firms have been present in the global market for a long time. FPT is one of the pioneers with representative offices in the US since the early 2000s.

Nghia said when making outward investments in the past, Vietnamese firms faced situations in which they could succeed only if they got support from government agencies. Vietnam’s IT firms are mostly small and medium sized, and face difficulties when introducing their products to foreign clients who do not know them.

Nghia believes that Vietnam can learn from India and the Philippines in solving the problem. These countries build national brands for some business fields. For example, India has a strong brand in IT.

The long-term orientation pursued by MIC is to develop, together with domestic IT firms, a national brand. The ministry will accompany businesses on the path to create stronger brands for businesses.

“In 2023, MIC has and is going to organize a lot of events and send delegations to international trade fairs and exhibitions...for example, Asia Tech Day in Singapore,” Nghia said.

About 20 Vietnamese tech firms attended Asia Tech Day 2023 and Vietnam’s stall was among the most successful ones at the event. 

According to Nghia, at these events, even the members of the organizing board, who are officials of MIC and members of associations, could act as sellers on behalf of businesses. By doing this, MIC becomes a ‘fellow-traveler’ on the path to conquer the world’s market.

Trong Dat