Vietnam Accelerates Digital Transformation to Shift Growth Model with Strengthened Data Infrastructure

Vietnam is seeking to shift gears, moving away from a growth model long reliant on low-cost labor, resource extraction, contract manufacturing, and capital accumulation. The country is accelerating its national digital transformation, with a focus on strengthening data resources as a key enabler for a new growth paradigm driven by productivity, knowledge, science, technology, and innovation. Top leadership has urged ministries and sectors to finalize the establishment and standardization of specialized databases and urgently connect them with the National Data Centre. This initiative aims to build a more comprehensive and reliable telecom database, laying the groundwork for secure, sustainable digital services and bolstering public confidence in the nation's digital ecosystem. The urgency is underscored by the fact that in the first quarter of 2026, over 6.9 million accounts were exposed, doubling the figure from the same period last year, with stolen personal data frequently exploited in sophisticated online scams. Under a newly issued resolution, citizens are granted the right to control the use of their personal data, access digital services, and receive legal protection in the digital environment. This move aligns with Vietnam's growing prominence in the AI space, where Vietnamese users' academic queries account for 17% of all prompts, significantly above the regional average, positioning the country as a top adopter of AI for education. The country's challenge is not merely to train more engineers or scientists but to cultivate a generation capable of mastering, improving, and eventually creating core technologies. The Politburo’s Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW identifies science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation as breakthrough drivers of national development. The Prime Minister’s Decision No. 21/2026/QD-TTg has further expanded the country’s list of 10 strategic technology groups to include cybersecurity and quantum technologies. Vietnam is currently home to nearly 4,000 start-ups and enterprises in science, technology, and innovation, supported by over 30,000 highly skilled professionals. The government prioritizes investment in high-tech R&D, including efforts to decode, master, and improve high technologies, and their application. A national AI ecosystem is gradually taking shape, bringing together institutions, data resources, computing infrastructure, technology enterprises, human resources, and application markets. With strong leadership from the Party and the State, Vietnam is poised to achieve important initial milestones in strategic technology development within this year, aiming to transition from an extensive growth model to one driven by innovation and digital advancement.