Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the “hand” of the Government

“To catch up with the industrial revolution 4.0, it is necessary to have a decisive hand from the Government”, the statement agreed by many experts in the “Industrial Revolution 4.0 – Gain and Lose” Forum held on 7/4.

Economist Le Dang Doanh said that, the growth model of Viet Nam has reached its optimal limitation and Industrial Revolution 4.0 is a great catalyst for Viet Nam to reform.

According to Mr. Doanh, each enterprise could make its own way to the industrial revolution 4.0 with its innovation and dynamics. A store could totally apply industry 4.0 to connect with their customers for checking and maintaining products; a “Pho” (Vietnamese noodle) eatery could also take advantage of 4.0 to handle their delivery.

Therefore, industrial revolution 4.0 is not something supernatural but it is practical application that from agriculture to daily sellers, pho eatery to banks… could easily manage. However, according to Mr. Doanh, in order to “catch” the industrial industry 4.0, there’s a need to change policies, regulations and radical reforms from the Government.

Economist Vo Tri Thanh also agreed that to “catch” and catch up with industrial revolution 4.0, four factors are needed. The first factor is regulations and leadership, in which the role of the leaders is very important; the second is the education and training system, new skills and labors for the digital age; the third is the regulation to promote innovation with entrepreneurship as the core – meaning its pragmatism needs to be high; and the fourth factor is the digital and connectivity security.

From the perspective of a technological expert, the Chairman of the Internet Association of Viet Nam, Mr. Vu Hoang Lien stressed that Viet Nam has not been able to seize the third industrial revolution, which make its more challenging to pick up the fourth industrial revolution. A natural development will bring growth advancement afterall but the gap between Viet Nam and other countries are not sure to be narrowed.

Therefore, according to Mr. Lien, in order to catch up with 4.0, it is vital to have a breakthrough. Only the Government could motivate that breakthrough. He said “In oder to embrace the industrial revolution 4.0, though we could from the consumption perspective, a decisive hand from the Government is necessary to catch up with it from the innovation and production point of view”.

Mr. Mai Duy Quang, Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Software and IT Service Association (VINASA), stated that the Government needed to form a platform to strengthen technological entrepreneurs and start-ups and facilitate the development of traditional entrepreneurs.

“When the new revolution starts, not all Governments talk about this as much as Viet Nam’s. This is not an exclusive revolution of “big players”, it is the revolution for everyone, including some very small groups with a couple of members, who may change the game and shape of the industries.” FPT Chairman Truong Gia Binh provided another perspective.

According to Dr. Le Dang Doanh, “the industrial revolution 4.0 will bring unprecedented enormous opportunity for Vietnamese economy, but also requires major policy changes from the Government to succeed”.

At the monthly March 2017 Government meeting on 3/4, the Government has acknowledged and appreciated the Special Report on the forth industrial revolution by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Viet Nam Software and IT Service Association (VINASA).

The Government concludes that the 4th industrial revolution is a development trend based on the digital and connectivity foundation with broad influence to every aspects of the society and economy, which will shift the method and resources for future production and provide Viet Nam with both opportunities to speed up industrialization, modernization as well as challenges to the development process.

“Viet Nam faces the need to actively develop practical guidelines and solutions to optimize the opportunities, minimize negative impacts of the 4th industrial revolution by, first and foremost, creating information technology breakthroughs”. The Government Meeting Circular stated and tasked the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education and Training, related ministries and agencies, and VINASA to draft and report a Chỉ thị on enhancing capacity to get access to the 4th industrial revolution to the Prime Minister within April 2017.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested related Ministers to master and focus more on the issue, “avoid the case when the industrial revolution 4.0 is well-said but little done in their own ministries/agencies and industries in charge.”

In the process of applying the industrial revolution 4.0, the Prime Minister also emphasized the urgency to continuously facilitate the healthy and transparent business environment, creating favorable conditions to develop all business sectors to develop and improve the national competitiveness.

A survey on 2.000 enterprises of Ha Noi small and medium enterprises Association showed that around 85% showed interest in the industrial revolution 4.0.

In the 85% enterprises who were interested, 55% accessed that the industrial revolution 4.0 will have a significant impact on the Vietnamese economy; 23% saw a normal impact; 11% thought the impact is minor and 10% did not see any impact; 6% did not know about the impact.

However, strategically speaking, up to 79% responses said they did… nothing to catch the industrial revolution 4.0. 55% enterprises were looking for more information and doing research on the revolution, 19% responses said they have developed plans, and only 12% were taking actions.

For enterprises who did not take interest in the industrial revolution 4.0, 67% responses stated they did not see any relations and impact to their business; 56% thought their business sector would not be get much impact; 76% said they did not understand the nature of the industrial revolution 4.0. Meanwhile, around 54% said they did not care nor have the need to know about the revolution.

Source VGP