AI in Vietnam.
Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia, with an area of 311,699 square kilometres (120,348 square miles) has a population of over 97 million and if you ever visit this beautiful country ,you will soon appreciate that there are also over 65 million registered motorbikes, with many families having a motorbike for each family member.
This article summarizes a number of research sources to give a sense of where Vietnam’s leadership is in the field of AI – and all indications are its status is evolving and blossoming.
Where is Vietnam in terms of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) companies, and how are they evolving their AI leadership position?
According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, the revenue of the ICT industry in 2021 was $136,153 million USD, a solid increase compared to $124,678 million USD in 2020. It is also estimated that the ratio of Vietnam's value in ICT revenue reached 24.65%, a significant increase compared to previous years. Vietnam currently has over 64,000 digital technology enterprises, an increase of 5,600 enterprises compared to 2020, and there are nearly 1,000 Vietnamese branded ICT products and services.
It is estimated that Vietnam has over 1 million IT workers, and over 80,000 university and college graduates with majors in information and communications technology. The International Development Research Centre in Canada and the UK’s Oxford ranked Vietnam 6th in ASEAN and 62nd in the world for the 2021 Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Score.
This is the first time Vietnam’s AI Readiness Score reached 51.82 out of 100, which surpasses the global average of 47.72 and helps this country climb 14 places compared to last year. The readiness of a country or territory toward AI technology is evaluated through three pillars – the government, technology, and data infrastructure.
The Vietnamese government has been investing heavily in AI and other digital technologies, such as machine learning, blockchain, big data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing.
Recently the country approved the National Digital Transformation Programme by 2025, with an orientation toward 2030. This demonstration of confidence is laying a solid strategy foundation for Vietnam to become a powerful AI innovator in the years to come.
These are all positive signs, but the real challenge for Vietnam is it is short on human capital resources with the required expertise needed in the field of AI. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), there are less than 2,000 Vietnamese studying and working in AI-related fields, and less than 300 are considered to be AI experts. Currently, there are around 50 universities and academies teaching AI-related majors in Vietnam.
One of the leading AI research and product development companies also in Vietnam is vinAI, where founder and CEO, Dr. Hung Bui (a former Google DeepMind employee), has successfully developed one of the world’s top 25 Artificial Intelligence research-based companies developing world-class products and services. With over 200 dedicated and competent personnel, of which almost 180 are AI scientists, they are rapidly transforming our state-of-the-art AI research into impactful technology solutions for the global market.
Conclusion:
In summary, Vietnam has ambitious plans for its AI leadership, and Vietnam hopes to be among the top four countries in Asia, when it comes to artificial intelligence advancement and FPT Software, is extensively pushing for it.
FPT Software has also been heavily investing in AI R&D, to assist Vietnam in being in the top 50 of the world by 2030, in terms of AI research and development as well as in software applications. FPT Software is also the first company in Southeast Asia to enter the Mila partner network, the world’s largest academic lab specialized in deep learning.
As a Canadian, I was also thrilled to learn that FPT Software has formed a strategic relationship with MILA, which was founded in 1993 by Professor Yoshua Bengio, Mila now brings together more than 1,000 student researchers and nearly 100 professors from the Université de Montréal, McGill University, École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal.
By 2030, AI will contribute US$ 13 trillion more to the economy or 1.2% of the GDP of the globe. With major government policies in place to support AI R&D and application development the country is poised to make some giant leaps forward. OpenGov Asia reported that Vietnam ranked 6th out of 10 ASEAN member countries and 55th globally in the 2022 Government AI Readiness Index, up seven places compared to 2021. The country’s average score reached 53.96 (up from 51.82 in 2021), surpassing the global average of 44.61.
There is no question in my mind that Vietnam has a strategic vision for AI innovation and it is blossoming. Tonight I have the pleasure of interviewing the founder of vinAI, Dr. Hung Bui, so check out my posting on their story later this week.
Note:
FPT Software is a part of FPT Corporation, a globally leading technology and IT services & solutions provider headquartered in Vietnam, with nearly US$1.6 billion in revenue and 54,000 employees in 28 countries. As a pioneer in digital transformation, FPT delivers world-class services in Smart factories, Digital platforms, RPA, AI, IoT, Enterprise Mobility, Digital Product Development, Cloud, AR/VR, Business Applications, Application Services, Managed Services, and so on.
