Vo Tan Thanh, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in HCM City, speaks at the 2019 ASEAN-China Smart Industry Conference held on Thursday in HCM City

Collaboration on innovation, science and technology across countries and across industry sectors should be strengthened to adapt to a rapidly changing world, speakers said on Thursday at an international conference.

More than 1,000 representatives from government agencies and business associations participated in the 2019 ASEAN-China Smart Industry Conference.

Han Mei, deputy general secretary of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (China, Japan and South Korea), said that strengthening cooperation in science, technology and creativity was a common goal among ASEAN countries and China, with the aim of achieving sustainable development.

She noted that governments should adopt policies that promote the use of new technologies to become highly competitive in an era of fierce economic and commercial competition.

“Artificial Intelligence (AI), together with clean energy, virtual reality, quantum information science and biotechnology have become the new drivers for accelerating economic development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” she said.

“Intelligent industry is not just a fashionable word but the future,” she said. “It is compromising traditional industry and bringing the abstract terms of the new technology into reality and into our daily life.”

The world has become smaller and closer and is becoming an “earth village”, she said, adding: “We are entering an era of sharing. We share opportunities as well as challenges. We share innovation as well as development.”

“Almost everyone is an indispensable part of today’s global chain. We need a better life for ourselves and we need win-win endings instead of zero-sum games. And, finally, we need a shared community of human beings.”

Vo Tan Thanh, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in HCM City, said it was important to strengthen cooperation on science and technology and innovation between Viet Nam and ASEAN-member countries as well as others like the US, China and Europe which have highly developed science and technology sectors.

The use of digital technologies in many areas in Viet Nam has been growing strongly, he said.

In 2017, Viet Nam was among the top five fastest-growing information technology countries with over 55 per cent of the population using smartphones and over 60 million using the internet. In 2017, HCM City, the country’s economic leader, launched a project to build a smart city by 2025.

However, Viet Nam faces challenges such as lack of high quality human resources and high-tech and transnational crimes, he said.

As part of the conference, an exhibition is displaying innovation products and intelligent manufacturing, automobile and finance solutions by exhibitors from Europe, China, Viet Nam and other ASEAN members. Key products on display include intelligent vehicles, smart factories and smart finance, among others.

The event was organised by the ASEAN-China Centre, ASEAN-China Joint Cooperation Committee, Chinese Consulate General in HCM City, and Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in HCM City.

The event aims to deepen cooperation in the fields of science, technology and innovation in ASEAN and China.

Experts said a new round of science and technology revolution was happening globally, and that innovation was playing an increasingly important role.