Vietnam is Japan's second largest digital transformation partner

On August 6, the Vietnam IT Day 2024 program with the theme "Vietnam - Comprehensive IT partner for sustainable digital economic development of Japan" took place in Tokyo, Japan.

Under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam IT Day 2024 is jointly organized by the Vietnam Software and IT Services Association - VINASA, the Japan Information Technology Services Industry Association - JISA and the Japan External Trade Organization - JETRO.

Vietnam IT Day 2024 was attended by Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu, representatives of the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and more than 250 delegates.

VINASA Chairman Nguyen Van Khoa said that digital technology cooperation between Vietnamese and Japanese enterprises has developed rapidly and strongly in recent times, contributing to improving the competitiveness of enterprises of the two countries in most key economic sectors. Vietnam is still the most favorite choice and the second largest digital transformation partner of Japan.

According to statistics, up to now, the number of Vietnamese digital technology enterprises investing in opening offices and representative companies in Japan has reached hundreds. Among them, many enterprises have hundreds, thousands of employees in Japan.

In particular, in the recent past, in the context of facing many difficulties and challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the devaluation of the yen... Vietnamese IT enterprises have steadfastly sought ways to overcome difficulties, and comprehensively accompanied Japanese partners in digital transformation. Thanks to that, Vietnamese IT enterprises in Japan have maintained a good revenue growth rate.

Recognizing and praising the efforts of 6 Vietnamese IT enterprises in Japan, within the framework of Vietnam IT Day 2024, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung awarded certificates of merit to FPT Japan, VTI Japan, Luvina Japan, CMC Japan, Rikkei Japan and Kaopiz.

At the event, with the goal of promoting the development of high-quality human resources in the field of IT between the two countries, the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology - PTIT under the Ministry of Information and Communications signed a cooperation agreement with 3 units in Japan, Japanese enterprises and training institutions.

Specifically, PTIT and Aizu University will cooperate to implement the "3+2 joint training program", in which students who complete their third year at PTIT will be considered to transfer to Aizu University for 2 years and receive a Master's degree.

With the newly signed cooperation agreement between the company and Agest, this Japanese enterprise will support training and internship activities in the Japanese environment for students majoring in Robotics, AI, and IT at the Academy.

Meanwhile, PTIT and GAG Japanese Language Academy agreed to cooperate in training Japanese language and culture and training programs in the form of digital universities for the Vietnamese community in Japan.

PTIT representative shared that the signing of cooperation agreements between the Academy and Japanese enterprises and training institutions within the framework of Vietnam IT Day 2024 has opened up new prospects for cooperation in research activities and academic exchanges, student exchanges between the Academy and Japanese partners; At the same time, it also contributes to connecting the Vietnamese - Japanese business community.

Two main trends in Vietnam - Japan IT cooperation

Vietnam IT Day 2024 is assessed to have continued to spread and expand the network of participating enterprises for cooperation, support the promotion of Vietnamese IT enterprises in the Japanese market, and especially create opportunities for agencies, organizations and enterprises to grasp the IT cooperation trend between the two countries.

Through discussions at the event, delegates pointed out the main directions of cooperation between Vietnamese and Japanese enterprises in the next 5-10 years, which are: Digital transformation of systems and AI applications; Digital transformation of production - Green transformation.

According to analysis, most of the technology systems in large Japanese enterprises and corporations in key areas are using technology systems that were built more than 20 years ago. This puts them at risk of falling behind global competitors. The need to modernize Japanese enterprises' systems is huge.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese technology enterprises have many digital transformation solutions and services to support the modernization of Japanese agencies and enterprises. Vietnamese technology enterprises have also researched and deployed AI models to apply to help optimize the system and increase the competitiveness of Japanese enterprises.

Regarding digital transformation of production - Green transformation, delegates attending Vietnam IT Day 2024 also agreed that this is a focus of cooperation in the coming time, and said that Vietnamese technology enterprises in Japan are ready with solutions for production management, resource optimization, energy and carbon measurement and optimization solutions.

Notably, analysis by representatives of Vietnamese and Japanese organizations and enterprises attending the event showed that Japanese enterprises are clearly shaping the trend of moving to Vietnam in most industries. In particular, in the IT sector, Japanese enterprises have shifted and their desire is to move to Vietnam at all levels of work, from research, design to production and testing.

Sharing the above viewpoint, Mr. Noriya Tarutani, Deputy Director of JETRO's Innovation Division, said that every year, there is a certain amount of direct investment from Japan in Vietnam in the IT sector and by 2023 there will be 59 investments, equivalent to 20% of Japan's total investment in Vietnam.

“In recent years, there have been Japanese startups establishing development bases in Vietnam. Some Japanese companies are paying attention to Vietnam's excellent engineers and positioning Vietnam as a base for R&D and development of advanced technologies such as AI,” Mr. Noriya Tarutani added.

New heights of Vietnam-Japan cooperation in ICT and semiconductor industry On August 5, 2024, within the framework of his visit and work in Japan, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung worked with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to promote cooperation between the two countries in the field of ICT and semiconductor industry.