Ho Chi Minh City – “Unicorn City” in the future

Develope digital economy become the engine of future growth

April 15, Forum Economy of Ho Chi Minh City The year 2022 organized by the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City took place. This year’s theme is “Digital Economy – Growth Engine and Future Development of Ho Chi Minh City” which attracted a large scale of participation with more than 900 domestic and international delegates.

At the forum, representatives of leaders of the Party, Government, business community and experts shared the same opinion: Ho Chi Minh City needs to continue to implement solutions to become a center of innovation and creativity. ship on the development of Vietnam’s digital economy.

In which, an important goal that needs careful consultation and research is to find a standard digital transformation model in state agencies and businesses. Develop mechanisms and policies for businesses to participate in digital transformation, find investment resources, so that the city’s digital economy in particular can take a longer and more effective step.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Development Research Institute, the digital economy currently accounts for about 15% of the gross local product GRDP.

Technology businesses introduce products at the Forum. (Photo: VNA)

Health and education – A bright spot in Ho Chi Minh City’s digital economy development

At the forum, some optimistic experts said that Ho Chi Minh City has a basis to become a “unicorn city” in the future, that is, a gathering place for tourists. technology company valued at $1 billion or more – the business term is “unicorn company”. This is evidenced by the amount of venture capital investment in startups, which has just reached a record $1.3 billion in just one year, with bright spots such as the education and healthcare technology industries.

Before the impact of the epidemic, each retail pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City also had to convert digitally. According to a study, this has helped the medical technology industry become the 4th largest attraction for venture capital in Vietnam in 2021, accounting for nearly 8%.

Before the impact of the epidemic, each retail pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City also had to convert digitally.

The time when many other economic sectors were facing difficulties because of the epidemic was when Medigo – a start-up company that bought drugs for households continuously closed 2 rounds of investment capital with a value of nearly 1 million USD. The growth rate has slowed down after the economic opening, but the startup believes that the trend of digital transformation will not reverse.

“With these new rounds of capital, we will expand our service network and partner network to better serve our customers. At the same time, we will also invest in technology to have more depth. more,” said Mr. Le Huu Ha – Managing Director, Medigo.

The amount of capital invested in the educational technology industry is even more impressive, accounting for 18% of the total value of venture capital. In the new normal, online tutoring startup Marathon still grows users by 100% per month thanks to the advantage of data ownership.

Mr. Tran Viet Tung – Managing Director, Marathon said: “Looking further into the future, we aim to accurately measure the learning ability of each student individually. From there, we can offer recommendations advise that student in the best way.”

According to experts, the initial success of Ho Chi Minh City has been to acquire hundreds of technology companies, some of which are already at the regional level, creating an important pillar for the digital economy development strategy. However, there are still great challenges to achieve the goal that after 3 years, the share of the digital economy will increase to 25% of the city’s GRDP, which is nearly double the current level.

Ho Chi Minh City discusses how to turn the digital economy into a new growth engine

According to World Bank research, only 7% of digital businesses in Vietnam have business activities driven and determined by data collection and analysis. This is 13% lower than the regional average. This shows that digital transformation and digital economic development in Vietnam in general have not yet gone into depth. To develop the digital economy in a sustainable way, a number of key solutions have been pointed out by regulators and researchers.

According to a study by the World Bank, 60% of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam reported a lack of information or skills about using technology. Demand for digital transformation is still limited, partly because businesses have not been fully supported.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai said that the Ho Chi Minh City government needs to continue to improve the institution and investment environment.

“The Government will continue to accompany Ho Chi Minh City in the highest possible conditions to implement solutions for socio-economic recovery and development, synchronous infrastructure investment, review institutional inadequacies, improve the quality of human resources to solve bottlenecks for development”, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai affirmed.

To promote the digital economy, the Ho Chi Minh City government is researching new solutions. Illustration – Photo: Dan Tri.

Regarding policy, the representative of the World Bank recommended that it is necessary to soon deploy new policy testing areas under the sandbox mechanism – which has been mentioned for many years in Vietnam. Creating a development space for breakthrough business models, creating competitive advantages for Vietnamese enterprises.

Carolyn Turk – World Bank Country Director for Vietnam, East Asia and the Pacific, said: “We consider the unlocking of digital infrastructure, as well as the careful design and implementation of these services. The sandbox testing mechanism will play a decisive role for Vietnam to continue innovating in the field of financial technology.”

The problem of developing human resource strategies for the digital economy is considered by many scientists and experts as a fundamental solution. Some argue that Ho Chi Minh City should be the first place to pilot a new model of human resource training specializing in the digital economy.

Mr. Philipp Rösler – Chairman of the Advisory Board of VinaCapital Ventures said: “A nationwide vocational training system will not be feasible, but why not test it at the city level? When there are conditions like regulations economic scale, there are enough companies willing to train young people. As well as the support of the city government for the right ideas.”

“People and financial people are the key to the engine of development. If we say that mechanisms and policies are the driving force, then people are the key to that driving force to develop. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City needs there is a mechanism to attract talented people not only in the country but also abroad,” said Dr. Vu Viet Ngoan – former Chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Commission.

To promote the digital economy, the Ho Chi Minh City government is researching new solutions such as setting up a separate center to support digital transformation, coordinating with organizations such as the World Bank to have a mechanism to support digital transformation. supporting small businesses to transform, as well as promulgating a pilot sandbox mechanism for businesses to boldly invest in new technologies as the Secretary of the City Party Committee said: “Creating a long-term economic development model in Ho Chi Minh City” .

According to experts, the characteristic of an innovative city is that it must be hyper-connected, the components of the digital economic ecosystem must connect with each other easily in the digital space. Therefore, finding a model of public-private partnership in line with international standards will also be important for the governments of cities like Ho Chi Minh City to attract investment and truly bring the digital economy to life. become the new growth engine.

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