‘Breakthrough innovation turns the digital economy and digital society into a new development space’

Message shared by Minister Nguyen Manh Hung at the third National Forum for Digital Economy and Society Development, December 20, 2025.

Today, we are present at the third National Forum on Digital Economy and Digital Society in a context of very special significance. Vietnam is entering a period of strategic acceleration to realize its aspiration for rapid and sustainable development, turning the country into a high-income country in the coming decades. In that journey, digital economy and digital society are no longer an option, but an inevitable path, a core driving force of growth and development model innovation.

At the Forum, we will discuss a big issue together: How to make the digital economy and digital society truly become Vietnam’s “new development space”, not just the digitalization of the old model, to make a decisive contribution to double-digit growth.

Developing Vietnam’s digital economy and digital society in the coming period will shift from digitizing the old to creating a new development space, where data, AI, digital platforms, digital businesses and digital citizens together become the driving force for growth.

Vietnam’s digital economy today is still mainly digitizing old activities, not shifting strongly to “creating new growth models”. The proportion of the digital economy in GDP is increasing rapidly, but domestic added value is still low, highly dependent on cross-border platforms, and many small and medium-sized enterprises have not really participated in the digital value chain. Therefore, the task of the next period is not just to do more, but to do it differently, to do it more deeply, to create more added value and to do it more sustainably.

Therefore, we need breakthrough innovations.

The first, Creating a national digital economy structure instead of discrete digitization of each field. Moving from approaching each industry with a digital transformation project to redesigning the economic structure based on shared digital infrastructure layers: telecommunications, Internet, computing, digital data, AI, digital platforms and digital services. The state must play the role of chief architect of the national digital economy and society, shaping the structure for the market to operate. The profound nature of the digital economy is to restructure the entire economy: from production, distribution, consumption, to market organization, corporate governance and social resource allocation.

The digital economy is based on the new means of production, which is data; based on new means of production, digital infrastructure (cloud-IoT-AI) and digital platform; Based on the new operating framework are new laws on science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, digital data, digital technology, AI and cyber safety and security; Based on digital entities such as digital businesses and digital value chains, the digital economy is not just another industry, but rather digitalization and restructuring of all industries and fields; Based on the sufficient conditions of digital citizenship and digital trust, this is the foundation of the digital society, and the condition for the digital economy to operate sustainably. Without digital trust, there will be no digital transactions and no digital economy.

Monday, Consider data, AI, and computing capacity as the fundamental production capacity of the digital economy, not just support tools, equivalent to electricity, water, and telecommunications. The state, businesses, and people can use it as a service. Here, I want to emphasize the new role of new generation telecommunications carriers in the development of the digital economy and digital society. Carriers not only provide connectivity, but also provide core digital capabilities for businesses to build products and services and operate the economy. The value of a network operator lies not only in the number of subscribers, but in the number of services that other businesses build on the network. Carriers must become the “backbone” of the national digital space, not only telecommunications networks, but also data centers, cloud computing, edge computing, AI computing, safety platforms, and network security.

Tuesday, transition from e-government (digitalization of procedures) to state-run operations based on data and predictive models. The state is a complex system that exceeds human processing capabilities, but once it reaches the digital environment, AI has the ability to process and predict. Policies that are designed, simulated, tested, and evaluated for impact using data will be faster and more accurate. The state manages according to risk, social impact, large-scale supervision and then focused inspection.

Wednesday, Developing the national digital market, focusing on businesses. Switch from supporting businesses in digital transformation to creating digital markets, creating demand for Vietnamese businesses, and creating trust for Vietnamese digital businesses. Vietnamese businesses grew up in the domestic market, then went global, forming Vietnamese technology corporations with digital platform capabilities.

Thursday, building a digital society with people at the center and digital trust as the foundation. Digital transformation is ultimately about human transformation. It is necessary to popularize digital skills, digital thinking, and digital ethics for the entire society; Building Vietnam’s digital culture – humane, safe, creative and responsible. Digital society is not just about popularizing technology, but about giving digital rights to people, associated with trust, ethics and digital culture. If digital economy answers the question “how to create wealth”, then digital society answers the question “development for whom”.

A digital society is not a society in which everything is posted online, but a society in which each person is empowered with more rights thanks to digital technology: the right to access information, the right to access public services, the right to lifelong learning, the right to participate in social management. In the digital society, digital citizens are not only beneficiaries, but also subjects participating in policy creation; government is not just a regulator, but a provider of data-driven public services; The digital community becomes a new social space, parallel and connected to the physical space.

Digital economy and digital society are not just a story of technology, but a story of restructuring development, rebuilding trust and repositioning the role of the State, businesses and people in the digital era. With data as the foundation, digital platforms as the driving force, institutions as the driver and people as the center, we have the conditions to successfully transform the growth model, improve productivity and the quality of life of society.

The Ministry of Science and Technology is committed to continuing to play the role of architect in science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, digital government, digital economy, digital society, accompanying ministries, branches, localities and the business community to realize the aspiration of rapid, sustainable and inclusive development in the digital era.