by Tran Hien Ly, Nguyen Quy Hieu and Tran Thi Thanh Huong,
This December, we are learning about innovation, its development trend, and especially it should be sensed in every breath of lives. Innovation can be classified into six typical areas, i.e., Product, service, usage, Process and organizational, Sales and marketing, Business model and Technology and Society. It is relatively easy for us to agree Vietnam is seeing dramatic changes in the last ten years, but we wonder if our capital, Hanoi, is an innovative city?
In products and services, since 2016, Hanoi has 346 city-level science and technology tasks implemented, including 212 natural science and technology tasks, 84 social sciences and humanities tasks, 50 test production projects with a total cost of 633.092 billion VND (equivalent to 27.4 million USD). Up to 85% of research results after acceptance are applied in practice. In particular, research products in the fields of industry, automation, electricity, electronics and telecommunications have helped to develop new products that are competitive and expand markets and replace imported goods.
The conversion to the development of electronic government (e-Government) in Vietnam or Hanoi should be the best example of the city’s organizational innovation. In March 2019, a Resolution[1] was promulgated, highlighting a number of critical tasks and solutions to develop e-government from 2019 to 2020, with a vision to 2025, and was followed with a series of guidance documents. Key targets include improving the e-government platform to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the state administrative apparatus and the quality of serving people and businesses; developing e-government based on open data and data towards the digital government, economy, and society; ensuring information safety and network security.
When talking about sales and marketing, most people would expect a man wearing a suit and tie, ready to beg you to buy his product. In recent years, innovative forms of marketing blow new winds in Hanoi. i.e., electronic Know Your Customer (EKYC[2]). In August 2020, the government issued Decree No. 91/2020/ND-CP to fight against spam messages, emails, and calls. This law forced all people working in marketing to change their minds about telesales. This law also created a new field of innovation: EKYC – match the need of the customer as long as they stay online and searching in google. It is common in Hanoi to feel it; once you get online and search for something, the next thing you will see is ads and websites fitting with your desire. Not only do retailers exercise this kind of marketing, but also, all companies who wish to enter the online world do so. In a way, for better or for worse, EKYC is now the king, changing the face of sales and marketing in Hanoi in just recent years.
Innovation rarely comes easy; it is may like a hurricane, crushes through the old barrier, and changes the rules of plays forever. The business model is thought to be fixed by great successful companies, and none can change, especially in banking and finance. But in 2004, when the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) was born, banks and financial organizations in Vietnam switched themselves to become connectors, helping the buyers to pay the sellers, no matter what bank they are using. In years to come, they speedup not only innovative online transactions for Vietnamese banks but also put a new definition to data sharing and transparency. Recently in 2019, they managed to push the seven largest banks in Vietnam to publish new kinds of cards, which help speed up payment and made the transaction more comfortable than ever. In the future, what else could they archive? Who knows?
When you are out, what is your attached thing? A mobile phone? It is a “yes” to most of the young people now in big cities like Hanoi. With your mobile and a connected bank account, you do not need to bring your purse anymore. Banking and telecommunications companies in Vietnam have been applying most technological innovations in the last five years. Artificial intelligence is broadly used to replace traditional customer assistance and services. In 2020, the State Bank of Vietnam estimates that there are 30 million Vietnamese using internet banking every day, transactions on mobile banking increases at 200% with a total monetary value up to 13 million USD per day.
Vietnam also experienced an apparent social change during the outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019. The government quickly reacted and applied innovative actions to fight potential threats from the first wave of disease transmission in China. Some examples to be named, setting up a Steering Committee, publishing and sharing widely prevention measures, deploying new applications to track people’s travels and connections, circulating update/warning messages to every mobile phone user, etc. Those rapid responses helped constrain the number of infected people to less than 1,400 to date and the death toll is 35 only.
We may say, Hanoi, as the heart of Vietnam, is not outside of the innovative trend in the world. Moving forward, or you are left behind. The critical question here is how Hanoian and Vietnamese people can develop while preserving our traditional indispensable values of culture, environment, and society. Sometimes, it is useful to stop, re-think and see if we are heading in the right direction.
[1] Resolution No. 17/NQ-CP dated March 7, 2019
[2] https://ekyc-vietnam.com/vi/?gclid=CjwKCAiAiML-BRAAEiwAuWVggkiNfduugNhtikfd5kzwxcoRsh3bo9skDMR8r-Byy8gu6igzQ4d8TBoCuNQQAvD_BwE
