Digital transformation – a catalyst for green and sustainable models

Digital transformation is considered as a catalyst for many businesses to transform and adapt to green and sustainable models. Recently, dual transformation (green and digital) has been mentioned by the European Union and is an important future trend.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Trần Quốc Phương made the statement at a conference on digital transformation – Faster, Smarter, and Greener held in Hà Nội on Tuesday.

The National Digital Transformation Programme for 2025, with a vision to 2030, emphasised three main focus points, including digital government, digital economy, and digital society.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, in 2022, the total revenue of Việt Nam's IT and telecommunications (ICT) industry reached about US$148 billion, and the digital economy reached 14.26 per cent of GDP.

To achieve the goal that, by 2025, the digital economy will account for 20 per cent of GDP under its rapid development scenario. Việt Nam needs to maintain average annual digital economic growth of about 20 per cent, more than three times the projected GDP growth.

Phương said that after some decades of rapid growth, Việt Nam has been struggling with major challenges affecting its economic development, which have slowed growth. The economy based on cheap labour and natural resources is not a competitive advantage anymore, there is a risk of falling into the middle-income trap, and the population is aging.

"These challenges require Việt Nam to find new growth models and engines for the economy. In this context, the nation has approached opportunities from the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the rapid development of digital technologies," he said.

“In the process of formulating strategies and master plans for socio-economic development, the Ministry of Planning and Investment always cooperates with ministries, branches, and localities to integrate tasks and solutions to apply the achievements of Industry 4.0 into perspectives, goals, and solutions to promote innovation in growth models,” he added.

In October 2021, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính issued Decision No 1658/QĐ-TTg approving the National Strategy on Green Growth for the 2021-30 period, with a vision to 2050, which highlighted increasing green growth with investment into advanced technology, digital transformation, smart and sustainable infrastructure, all as an impetus for private investment to play an increasingly important role in the green economy.

“The requirement for digital transformation and green growth is a big challenge for the nation and its businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises,” the deputy minister said.

Denis Brunetti, chairman of Ericsson in Việt Nam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar said each country and market has its own way and plan, and Việt Nam is highly appreciated as one of the most dynamic and attractive destinations in the world thanks to a rapidly growing digital economy and a strategy focused on digital transformation across the country.

“Ericsson fully supports this and is committed to helping Việt Nam achieve this important vision,” he said.

“We are proud to be Việt Nam's long-term, trusted, and valuable strategic partner, and always share our global insights, expertise, and experience here. The future of the ICT industry is digital, and we are committed to working with Việt Nam's government in accelerating digital transformation across all economic sectors through 4G and 5G, as well as 6G in the future,” he added.

He also acknowledged the importance of 5G-enabled digital transformation as a key factor in improving labour productivity and efficiency in all industries, especially in manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, and energy.

Urs KLOETI, Factory Manager, Nestle Vietnam Ltd said Nestle’s approach on digital transformation within operations in Việt Nam and globally is, to translate this external view of technology trends into meaningful opportunity areas, which are well understood and against which we are able to identify savings and/or growth opportunities.

“Also, in Nestle, digital transformation is not just about technology. It is also about people. In Nestlé, digital transformation helps to connect employees across all levels in the organisation more productively and autonomously,” he said.

He added they have built some organisational networks from existing teams around each of these focus areas and now in each market to co-ordinate the identification of pain points and to match them with the most appropriate application. New technologies are also identified in most cases bottom up from the factories/markets and these are then escalated through the teams.

At the forum, the delegates focused on discussing the trend of digital transformation and the three pillars of a sustainable economy – manufacturing, banking, and e-commerce. They highlighted the importance of 5G for economic growth and innovation, policy mechanisms to promote rapid growth and sustainable development, and practical lessons from digital transformation pioneers.

The event opened up new and practical information flows about dual transformation trends – digital and green – in the fields of manufacturing, finance and banking, and e-commerce and logistics.

This is the second year that Việt Nam Investment Review has organised the Conference on Digital Transformation to create opportunities for representatives of state management agencies, policymakers, experts, and both local and international tech enterprises to meet and exchange information.