Google joined forces with Vietnam's National Innovation Center (NIC) last week to launch a comprehensive initiative to accelerate the country's AI advancements.
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| Telecommunications groups, healthcare companies, transportation companies, and more are using AI to improve quality and accuracy in a variety of ways. |
The initiative, called “Build For The AI Future”, focuses on two main pillars (see box) that address key areas: strengthening Vietnam’s human capital, nurturing a burgeoning startup ecosystem and strengthening the foundation for maximizing AI adoption.
This collaboration marks an important new chapter in Google's long-standing commitment to supporting Vietnam's digital transformation and is directly aligned with Vietnam's 2030 National AI Strategy.
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong said: “This programme underscores the ministry and Google's unwavering commitment to fostering Vietnam's AI ecosystem. The programme aims to equip the local workforce with essential skills to seize the opportunities of the AI era, while supporting Vietnamese startups in developing AI-enabled innovations.”
Mark Wu, Managing Director, Google Asia Pacific, Vietnam, said, “Vietnam's digital economy is predicted to grow a staggering 11 times by 2030, reaching $220 billion – nearly half of Vietnam's current GDP – and AI is one of the key drivers to make that prediction a reality. Together with NIC, we believe Build For The AI Future will be a powerful launch pad for local talent, startups and enterprises in Vietnam to successfully leverage Google AI's best products and solutions.”
Southeast Asia's digital economy is booming, surging eight-fold in just eight years to reach $100 billion. This rapid digital transformation and the region's AI-readiness are expected to help Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, reap up to $835 billion in economic benefits from AI by 2030.
Key challenges
Despite the promise of AI-driven economic growth in Vietnam, a significant challenge remains: a shortage of AI experts. According to various statistics, there are currently around 1,600 Vietnamese civil servants engaged in research and work in AI-related fields. Of these, only around 700 are engaged in this work in Vietnam. However, only around 300 of them are classified as experts.
This talent shortage, combined with a lack of access to high-quality AI training programs, is widening the current gap between market demand and available talent.
In addition to the talent shortage, Vietnamese AI startups face additional challenges, including limited access to top AI experts and mentors to review and validate their products for strong market fit, as well as a lack of access to the enterprise-ready infrastructure and tools they need to rapidly develop, commercialize, and scale their products.
Regarding the application of AI in investment and business operations, Lan Pham, co-founder and COO of stock tracking support company Simplify, said that the company struggled with low user trust in the platform. Customers were questioning the reliability and validity of AI recommendations, and the rising costs of training AI models also put the company under pressure, putting its business in jeopardy.
“When we learned about the Google Startup Accelerator, we saw incredible value and opportunity that we couldn't ignore. The personalized attention given to each startup and the program's diverse team of expert advisors were exactly what we needed,” says Pham.
Simplize uses Google Vertex AI to optimize the training costs of its AI models. “By gaining valuable market insights and improving our perfect product, Simplize's user base has grown 10x. Additionally, Simplize's solutions have delivered 210% returns over the past three years, even during a market downturn, and outperformed VNIndex by more than 30x,” said Pham.
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A changing landscape
In fact, AI is already helping to change Vietnam for the better: Specifically, Viettel has developed an AI-enabled legal virtual assistant to help automate aspects of legal and judicial procedures, and South Korean electronics manufacturing services company Novas EZ Co. is leveraging AI to make production more efficient in its Vietnamese factories.
Integrating AI into Vietnam's electric vehicle sector will enable advancements in areas such as EV design, driving experience, and battery production. The International Rice Research Institute is using AI to develop climate-resilient rice varieties to help Vietnamese farmers better cope with climate change.
Elsewhere, Vingroup Big Data Institute has developed VinDr, an AI-enabled application that helps doctors accurately diagnose and detect diseases, while FPT University is running a training program to enable Vietnamese teachers to use AI to improve the quality of education.
The International Road Assessment Program is using AI to help keep children safe on Vietnam's roads. Google's AI-enabled flood forecasting platform Flood Hub is helping Vietnam's agricultural base predict flooding. The Coffee Vision project is using AI to pinpoint deforestation in Vietnam's coffee-growing areas to improve biodiversity.
“To complement existing efforts, we make three key recommendations to help Vietnam safely embrace AI,” said Google Asia Pacific's Wu. “Vietnam should invest more in infrastructure and innovation, AI research and development, and digital infrastructure, and create a supportive policy environment that lowers barriers to AI innovation.”
From students to workers, small businesses to large enterprises, an AI-enabled workforce is essential to ensure the benefits of AI are realized, and we also need to promote inclusive adoption and accessibility, and leverage AI across all sectors of government and the economy to address major societal and economic challenges and ensure the benefits of AI are widely shared, Wu added.
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