The winning solutions were awarded for their huge potential to foster digital transformation and innovation capacity among businesses, thus facilitating their path towards prosperity and sustainable development.
Impressive intellectual resources of Vietnamese people
The annual Vietnam Innovation Challenge aims to realise the MPI’s InnovateVN initiative. It seeks initiatives from domestic and international organisations and individuals to tackle key national challenges on its path towards prosperity and sustainable development.
The event attracted a total of 758 solution applications from individuals and businesses in Vietnam and 10 other countries and territories which have dynamic innovation ecosystems, such as the Republic of Korea, the US, Singapore, and Hong Kong (China).
According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, the number of participation technology solutions in the programme shows that the intellectual resources and creative capacity of the Vietnamese people is extremely great and prideworthy.
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Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung speaks at the awarding ceremony held in Hanoi on September 8. (Photo: VnEconomy) |
He hailed that the entries provide a comprehensive, sustainable, replicable and widely popular approach for businesses in Vietnam and many other markets, helping to improve management capacity and strengthen links and cooperation between domestic and foreign businesses.
Among the 12 most innovative solutions, the top four will be honoured during the inauguration ceremony of the National Innovation Centre's facility in Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park and the Vietnam Innovation International Exhibition (VIIE 2023), which is scheduled this October.
The top four included oneSME — the digital transformation platform for SMEs launched by the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT); akaBot — a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solution by FPT Information System Co., Ltd.; MISA AMIS — a unified business management platform by MISA Joint Stock Company; and an energy-saving solution by BenKon Joint Stock Company.
These solutions have been highly welcomed by the market and have generated significant revenue for businesses.
Accordingly, the oneSME solution truly demonstrates the leading role of the VNPT by allowing the integration of solutions from many suppliers into one playground, helping to provide more options for customers, and support small and medium-sized businesses in seeking the most suitable solutions for their development.
Meanwhile, akaBot product provides a comprehensive business process automation solution for businesses with robot assistants which are capable of simulating human operations and performing repetitive tasks.
Although it has only been recently introduced to the market, the MISA AMIS solution has served more than 53,000 organisations and conducted more than 172 million transactions.
With BenKon energy saving solution, businesses can convert air conditioner into a smart equipment, helping to optimally manage and operate the air conditioning system in the most effective way.
New driving force for economic growth
According to Simon Milner, Vice President of Public Policy in Asia and Pacific at Meta, Vietnam is one of the leading countries in the world in Business Conversation and has a lot of growth potential.
He hailed that Vietnam’s pool of talent is young, hardworking, can learn very quickly, and has an appetite for new technologies and innovation.
These solutions, as well as those in future annual challenges, will serve as catalysts to invigorate and expedite Vietnam’s digital transformation and boost the competitiveness of over 800,000 small and medium-sized enterprises across the country.
Simon Milner, Vice President of Public Policy in Asia and Pacific at Meta
He is confident that these solutions, as well as those in future annual challenges, will serve as catalysts to invigorate and expedite Vietnam’s digital transformation and boost the competitiveness of over 800,000 small and medium-sized enterprises across the country.
A report presented at the session on innovation and start-ups, which was recently held in Hanoi in mid-September, under the framework of the ninth Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians, showed that Vietnam is now home to around 3,000 start-ups, including four unicorns (private companies with a valuation over 1 billion USD each), and 11 start-ups with a valuation of more than 100 million USD.
Vietnam ranked 48th out of 132 countries and economies worldwide, holding fourth place in Southeast Asia, in the 2022 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII), which was published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
In the context that the world economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, amidst many unpredictable developments in the world and global economic instability, technological innovation has played an increasingly important role in ensuring the country's sustainable economic development.
Innovation becomes a new pillar in Vietnam's orientation to attract foreign investment in the coming period. Accordingly, Vietnam will prioritise projects on high technology, electronics, semiconductors, innovation, renewable energy, green hydrogen, finance and trade, thus making innovation a new driving force for national sustainable development.
