Vietnam’s digital revolution: How the country is paving the way to becoming Asia’s premier tech hub

Without any doubt, southeastern Asia is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world when we are talking about economy and population. If you look at some studies and research on this topic, you will find that most of them say that this region will be the fastest-growing one in the future.

As you know, there are numerous counties in this region, but Vietnam stands out from the crowd. The projections for this country’s economic expansion are exceptional. It will rise by 30% in the next couple of years, which you will not find anywhere in the world.

When it comes down to the industries that have grown immensely in Vietnam, you will find that the IT sector is among the fastest-growing. Naturally, there are numerous reasons why this is the case. Today, want to talk about all these reasons in greater detail and explain why Vietnam will become a major digital hub in times to come.

Stable macro environment

In the last three decades, Vietnam’s economy has experienced significant growth. The country has partners from all over the globe, and you will find foreign investments from counties such as China, the United States, Russia, Germany, etc. As we’ve said, these investments have recently focused on the IT sector.

Naturally, this growth is possible due to the stable macro environment situation. Not only is the country’s economy rising, and it adopted local legislation towards helping foreign investments, the country itself is one of the safest in the region. Therefore, there are practically no hardships foreign investors will experience in Vietnam.

However, it needs to be said that the economy is not only helped by foreign investments. Numerous local companies have become powerful and wealthy enough to spread their business in neighboring countries, such as Thailand or Cambodia. So, Vietnam is about to become a major regional economic player.

Young and educated population

Among the most important elements of the country is that the country has a young and educated population. The country’s population is around 104 million people, and it will continue to rise in the future. Also, you can see that most of the population is younger than 30 years, which is nothing short of exceptional.

Besides that, more and more Vietnamese get an education in this field of work. Naturally, there are numerous branches in the IT industry, and all these branches are covered with high-quality workers from this country. For that reason, all the signs point towards the growth of the industry in the country.

In the past couple of decades, we could see that many Vietnamese have immigrated to the Western hemisphere or China, where they worked for foreign companies. Today, the situation is widely different, and you will see a vast majority of them staying in the country, developing startups, and educating the younger generations.

Digital transformation

The local government has perceived a chance they have got in this industry, and we can see that Vietnam has adopted a huge chunk of its legislation towards helping the industry grow. There are even a couple of strategic documents that confirm this will be the country’s strategy in the future.

For instance, you can look at the document signed back in 2020 by the prime minister, which says that the country’s further digital development should be expanded. Some goals have been set and will be fulfilled in the future. The deadline for all of them to be fulfilled is set for 2030.

Naturally, the whole program is categorized into a couple of points. Therefore, the first stage will be completed in 2025. The country experienced massive changes in the program’s first two years. More people are getting educated in this field, and their number will significantly increase in the future.

Digital adoption during Covid-19

One of the periods where digital adoption became significantly important was during the pandemic of COVID-19. As you know, social distancing has been a priority for over two years, and the need for digital solutions has risen during that time. Today, you will find that these solutions have changed the face of the country.

Most Vietnamese are well-versed in technology, and there are no boundaries for them to develop technology in the future. For that reason, we can see that they can participate in various local and foreign companies, which will enhance the country’s economic growth in the future. Ironically, COVID-19 lockdowns are to be credited for this massive jump.

What does the future hold?

Even though Vietnam has been showing some remarkable development recently, it needs to be said that it is quite early and still has a lot of room for improvement. Still, all the signs that it will become the major digital hub in the region are already there. The only thing that can prevent this from happening is the lack of consistency.

We’ve already mentioned that countless companies originate in the country. So, we are not talking only about a proper place for foreign investments. Therefore, we can see that locals can create steady companies that will play a major role in the future, on a global scale.

Basically, the whole face of Vietnam is changing. It slowly becomes an industrialized nation, mostly specializing in the IT industry. In the APAC region, Vietnam has already started establishing itself as a leader in software outsourcing with companies from Singapore, Japan, and Australia moving their IT departments to Vietnam. Since this industry is also very young, we don’t understand the whole potential behind it. For that reason, predicting precisely how big Vietnam will get is problematic, but the signs are there.

Conclusion

Vietnam is bound to become one of the strongest players in the global IT industry in the next decade. In this article of ours, we’ve provided you with a couple of key factors why this will be the case. Without any doubt, there are no signs of this trend stopping, and we can expect the local industry to become much more competitive in the future.

This article was originally published by Potado on Hackernoon.