Industry 4.0 Summit 2019 and international expo open in Hanoi

Nguyen Van Binh, Politburo member and head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission delivers an opening speech at the event (Photo: VNA)

The event was jointly held by the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the State Bank of Vietnam, and other relevant ministries and agencies.

Upon addressing the opening ceremony, Nguyen Van Binh, Politburo member and head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, emphasized that Industry 4.0 is a major trend taking place worldwide that runs alongside the robust development of science and technology.

Mr Binh added that digital technology has made significant changes to almost every sector, including production, business, culture, social life, national defense, and security.

Over 40 countries and territories globally, including those from developing nations, have so far issued strategies and action plans relating to the impending wave of Industry 4.0 technology.

Delegates at the event. (Photo: VNA)

This can be seen as several countries have developed and implemented a National Digital Transformation Strategy - one of the core contents of Industry 4.0. Elsewhere, a number of domestic and international researchers have predicted that the embracing changes caused by Industry 4.0 will have a positive effect on Vietnam's future economic growth.

Mr Binh noted that the country has built a relatively synchronous telecommunication infrastructure with mobile coverage currently reaching 99.7 per cent of the population nationwide, of which 3G and 4G coverage areas at a low cost reach 98 per cent.

In addition, 5G networks have been granted licenses to experiment and are expected to be commercially deployed to the mass market by 2020.

Politburo member and head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and delegates partipcate in international expo at the event. (Photo: VNA)

Furthermore, the digital economy has enjoyed rapid development and has become a crucial part of the nation’s overall economy. This has led to Vietnam being ranked third in the ASEAN region in terms of the scale of its digital economy, largely down to digital technology being applied in the industrial, agricultural, and service sectors.

Most notably, there has been an emergence of digital and internet-based business models and services that have served to generate jobs, increase income, and improve the overall quality of life for residents. The developments of e-government towards creating a digital government have also been implemented effectively and have enjoyed positive outcomes.

Last year, the country’s e-government development index ranked 88th out of 193 countries, of which the online public services index jumped 10 places to rank 59th out of 193 countries in comparison to 2016.

Despite this, the nation’s active participation in Industry 4.0 remains low due to inadequate institutions and policies. There is currently no legal mechanisms in place for a digital economy, or for the pilot implementation of new Industry 4.0 products, business models, or services.

The country has yet to develop a national standard system to be applied when developing Industry 4.0 technologies.

It is essential to clarify the specific mechanisms, policies, and recommendations towards the effective implementation the Politburo’s guidelines on Industry 4.0, Binh stressed.