On the morning of July 11, the National Innovation Center (NIC, Ministry of Planning and Investment) and Google jointly launched the program “Building Vietnam’s AI Future”, a comprehensive initiative to promote development in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) in Vietnam.

The initiative focuses on two main pillars, talent creation and enterprise creation. Each pillar will address key issues to support Vietnam’s human resource development, nurture the startup ecosystem, and strengthen the foundation to maximize AI adoption.

According to Google, the digital economy in Southeast Asia has grown dramatically, increasing 8 times in just 8 years, reaching an economic value of 100 billion USD and is forecast to reach 835 billion USD thanks to AI by 2030.

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Mr. Marc Woo - Managing Director, in charge of Vietnam, Google Asia - Pacific. Photo: Trong Dat

Despite the promising economic growth prospects from AI, Vietnam is currently facing a significant challenge: the shortage of AI personnel and experts. The scarcity of human resources combined with the lack of access to high-quality AI training programs further widens the gap between market demand and human resource supply.

In addition to the shortage of talent, AI startups in Vietnam also face challenges such as lack of access to experts and advisors to evaluate and validate AI products to suit market needs.

Vietnamese AI startups also lack access to enterprise-ready infrastructure, platforms, and tools, which are considered essential for developing, commercializing, and scaling AI products.

According to Mr. Marc Woo - Managing Director, in charge of Vietnam, Google Asia - Pacific: " Vietnam's digital economy is expected to grow 11 times by 2030, reaching 220 billion USD, equivalent to nearly half of Vietnam's current GDP ".

“ AI is one of the key factors to realize the above forecast. Together with NIC, we believe that the initiative 'Building Vietnam's AI Future' will be a solid launching pad for domestic talents, startups and businesses, ” said a Google expert.

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The Ministry of Planning and Investment and Google will launch the initiative 'Creating an AI future for Vietnam'. Photo: Trong Dat

To address these challenges, Google and the National Innovation Center will launch a digital talent development program, offering 40,000 scholarships for 10 courses, including one on artificial intelligence. The program aims to equip the young generation of Vietnam with the latest AI skills, including many officials, lecturers and students from more than 80 universities and colleges across the country.

This is an upgrade from the Digital Talent Development program launched by Google and NIC in July 2022. To date, the program has equipped 60,000 working-age people in Vietnam with digital skills.

In addition, recognizing the key role of local startups, Google has committed to supporting the development of the startup ecosystem in Vietnam from the very beginning. This year, with Google for Startups Accelerator, the search giant aims to support and promote Vietnamese startups in the AI ​​era.

According to Mr. Tran Duy Dong - Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment (MPI), the development of AI will completely change the way people research, work, create content and is predicted to contribute trillions of USD to the global economy.

“ In that context, Vietnam is taking strong steps to participate in promoting research, application and development of AI human resources. In 2022, Vietnam will rank 55th in the world in the AI ​​innovation index ,” Deputy Minister Tran Duy Dong shared.

The program "Building Vietnam's AI Future with Google - NIC" demonstrates the strong commitment and support of the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Google in promoting the AI ​​ecosystem in Vietnam. The program will equip young Vietnamese human resources with the necessary skills to seize opportunities in the AI ​​era, while supporting startups to innovate based on artificial intelligence.

Vietnam has an AI readiness index higher than the world average . In the context of AI being widely applied, the General Director of IBM Vietnam said that Vietnam needs to establish specific regulations and an AI governance framework.