Attending the Forum, there were Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Nhat Quang, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Party Committee, President of VASS and delegates: Prof. Dr. Do Hoai Nam, former member of the Party Central Committee, former President of the Academy, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Tran Duc Cuong and Prof. Dr. Vo Khanh Vinh former Vice President of the Academy; Comrade Do Hoang Long, Director of the Department of Western Europe and North America, Central Committee for External Relations. On the side of the speakers were Colonel Le The Mau, Strategy Institute of the Ministry of National Defense; Dr. Le Minh Cong, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City; Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Quang Tuan, Dr. Dang Thai Binh, MSc. Nguyen Thu Huong, VASS together with delegates, scientists attending directly and online from the Government Office, Central Propaganda Department, Central Committee for Mass Mobilization, Ethnic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly; The Ministry of Science and Technology, the Central Committee for External Relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the Strategy Academy of the Ministry of Defense, the Logistics Academy of the Ministry of Defense; Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, National Economics University, Hanoi National University, Representatives of a number of businesses and NGOs, Grab responsible company, delegates from Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Dong Nai, Hue and other localities across the country.
Attending the forum, there were also leaders and scientists from Research Institutes and functional departments under and under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and press agencies. Report on this important forum: Voice of Vietnam, Hanoi Radio and Television Station, Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam National Defense Television, Nhan Dan Newspaper, People's Army Newspaper, Electronic Newspaper Communist Party of Vietnam, New Hanoi Newspaper, Tien Phong Newspaper, Labor Newspaper, Tuoi Tre Newspaper, Youth Newspaper, Legal Life Newspaper...
Opening speech at the Forum, on behalf of VASS leadership, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Nhat Quang warmly welcomes the large attendance of the participants in person and online. Chairman Bui Nhat Quang said that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the entire economic, political and social life of the country; but this is also an opportunity for Vietnam to accelerate the digital transformation process in order to realize the dual goals of “Safely adapting, flexibly, effectively controlling the Covid-19 pandemic” and " economic development, ensuring social security in the new normal state", contributing to the effective implementation of Resolution No. 52-NQ/TW dated September 27, 2019 of the Politburo on a number of guidelines and policies to actively participate in the revolution. The fourth network - striving by 2030, Vietnam will complete the construction of a digital government, the digital economy will reach about 30% of GDP and be in the top 50 countries in the world, ranking 3rd in the ASEAN region in terms of government electronics and digital economy development.
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Nhat Quang added that, in the context of the whole society being isolated and separated for a long time, businesses were forced to close, schools could not let students go to school, transportation and other facilities were not allowed to go to school. If logistics services are interrupted continuously, domestic and international trade stagnates, patients cannot effectively access medical services, etc., digital transformation becomes a lifeline for governments, businesses, and industries , localities and all people in the country to continue maintaining production, business and people's activities. Besides, it has been 2 years since the completion of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the forecasts of the World Health Organization and scientists, the Covid-19 pandemic has not shown any signs of slowing down in 2022 with the following developments: and unpredictable consequences. In terms of negative aspects, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused countries to suffer serious and comprehensive impacts on global socio-economic life. According to the UN report for 2021, the global economy will continue to shrink by 4.3% in 2020, twice as much as the decline recorded during the global financial crisis of 2019. In 2021, The global economy recovered at 4.7% but could not make up for the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic has also pushed an additional 131 million people to live below the poverty line and left the world facing the worst mental health crisis in decades.
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Nhat Quang affirmed that Covid-19 has brought a strong impetus to the digital transformation process in all socio-economic fields, overcoming the faults of the global supply chain, bringing people closer to the world, connect closer together and give rise to many new economic, employment and welfare models in the 21st century. On the other hand, it also poses many challenges for every country in the world in mobilizing and using resources, training skills as well as preparing digital technology infrastructure to catch up with great changes, brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Accordingly, the VASS President wishes that delegates and scientists at the forum will focus on exchanging, sharing and suggesting some important contents such as: (1) The necessity of digital transformation in Vietnam in the context of the pandemic; (2) Efficiency and bottlenecks and difficulties in the digital transformation process to overcome the negative impacts of the pandemic; (3) How can Vietnam accelerate the successful digital transformation in the current context.
After a period of careful preparation, the Forum Organizing Committee received more than 50 presentations from managers and scientists from all over the country. After the selection process, the Forum Organizing Committee selected 33 typical papers. The presentations focused on a number of main contents as follows: (1) Covid-19 pandemic: opportunities and challenges of digital transformation of countries in the world and Vietnam; (2) Digital transformation for socio-economic development in Vietnam under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the fields of: economy, society, culture, social security, social security; (3) Digital transformation in a number of key industries and enterprises in Vietnam under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic; (4) Experience in digital transformation of some localities such as: Da Nang city, Ho Chi Minh City.
The forum received 05 presentations from the speakers (Colonel Le The Mau, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Quang Tuan, Dr. Dang Thai Binh, MSc. Nguyen Thu Huong and Dr. Le Minh Cong) divided into 02 discussion session. Session 1: Covid-19 pandemic, opportunities and challenges of digital transformation in Vietnam; Session 2: The Covid-19 pandemic and digital transformation in a number of key industries and fields. The presented reports focus on content related to the Covid-19 pandemic, accelerating the process of restructuring the world economy - politics and digital transformation in Vietnam; Sustainable economic recovery and development through accelerating digital transformation in Vietnam; Building digital brands with electronic tools: a case study of Vietnamese enterprises; Digital transformation of the education industry: Online education in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic; Remote mental health services during the Covid-19 pandemic- experience from the project “Mental health care”.
Sharing at the Forum, Colonel Le The Mau, Institute of National Defense Strategy, Ministry of National Defense said that at present, Vietnam is strongly promoting the digital transformation process of the Government's activities to build e-government, strongly digitally transform public administration and improve the quality of human resources. Accordingly, the Government set the goal of turning Vietnam into an international software center to promote the process of digitizing business activities, building smart cities, improving the efficiency of mechanisms and policies, and improving the efficiency of policies and procedures, dialogue between the state and the business community. This is the basis for Vietnam to confidently carry out the process of digital transformation of the economy and socio-political and security activities.
The forum received a lot of exchange ideas and discussions from the participants. All comments confirmed the positive side of digital transformation in all areas of social life, especially in the context of the complicated development of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the delegates also raised the downside of difficulties and challenges in the digital transformation process in Vietnam. That is the inequality in accessing digital transformation of disadvantaged groups in society (remote and remote areas); it is necessary to build an infrastructure system of institutions, laws, and social institutions (culture, education) to gradually respond to the requirements of the current digital transformation; affirming that digital transformation is inevitable and common, but must be closely associated with Vietnam's own conditions, circumstances and characteristics; awareness of the importance of information security, cyber security, and ensuring the privacy of users along with maintaining the stability of the transmission line are all issues that need to be recognized and solved in the current digital transformation process.
Assessing the recovery and sustainable economic development through accelerating digital transformation in Vietnam, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Quang Tuan, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics, said that the economic crisis from Covid-19 brought about great harm and devastation, yet it also creates new opportunities. That is restructuring and building the economy towards green and sustainable development. The Covid-19 crisis is an opportunity for a quick transition to a green economy that Vietnam's socio-economic development strategy for the period 2021-2030 has identified.
In order to successfully implement digital transformation, the delegates also raised a number of issues that need to be further researched and implemented in the near future: the legal corridor for the digital transformation process; social security policies for disadvantaged groups; corporate policies in effectively building digital brands; synchronously develop essential infrastructure (information technology) associated with socio-cultural institutions (digital culture, civilized behavior); developing information technology human resources; soon promulgate the National Strategy on digital transformation, digital economy...
The scientific forum "Covid-19 pandemic and digital transformation in Vietnam" has profound practical and predictive significance, in order to understand opportunities and challenges in digital transformation in Vietnam. In particular, no matter how strongly the digital transformation takes place, research issues need to focus on the subject that is strongly affected, that is, the people, serving the people. Based on scientific analysis, contributing to proposing appropriate solutions and policy recommendations towards the successful implementation of digital transformation in Vietnam in the coming time.
Nguyen Thu Trang
