Situation and causes
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) has unfolded plenty of opportunities but, at the same time, posed many challenges to every nation, organization and individual. It has exerted great impacts on all economic and social aspects of Vietnam. The Party and the State have recently directed authorities and sectors nationwide in intensifying scientific and technological application and development and innovation, and striving to proactively take part in Industry 4.0. The Prime Minister has recently issued a directive on building the capability to take advantage of this Revolution and approved a Scheme on promotion of the sharing economy. On that basis, ministries, sectors and localities have formulated and implemented a number of policies to encourage the development of information technology, electronics and telecommunications. As a result, telecommunications infrastructure facilities have been developed in a synchronous manner, digital economy has been rapidly formed and developed, constituting an integral part of the national economy, and digital technologies have been applied in most industrial, agricultural and service provision sectors. New forms of transnational and digital technology- and Internet-based business and service provision have emerged, creating more jobs, helping generate more incomes and contributing to raising the people’s living standards. The building of an e-government which will be developed into a digital government has achieved initial positive results.
However, the nation’s proactive participation in Industry 4.0 remains unsatisfactory. Relevant institutions and policies remain limited and inadequate. The structure and quality of human resources fail to meet requirements. Science and technology and innovation have not really become driving forces for socio-economic development; the newly-established National Innovation System is operating asynchronously and ineffectively. The process of national digital transformation falls behind schedule and lacks proactivity due to poor transformation infrastructure facilities; many enterprises remain passive with low capacity to get access to, apply and develop modern technologies. The scale of digital economy remains small. The fight against cyber-security crimes still faces numerous challenges. 
The aforementioned limitations are attributable mostly to subjective reasons, including limited and inconsistent awareness of the political system and society about Industry 4.0; and low capacity to make strategic analyses and forecasts on scientific and technological development trends which might affect the nation’s socio-economic life.

Guidelines and objectives
Guidelines 
The proactive involvement in Industry 4.0 is an unavoidable necessity and importantly strategic task of the political system and the society, and closely combined with the nation’s in-depth international integration. It is required to sufficiently and properly understand the comprehension and nature of this Revolution in order to resolutely renew thoughts and actions, considering it a breakthrough for Vietnam’s socio-economic development with appropriate steps and roadmap.
Industry 4.0 has brought both opportunities and challenges to the nation. Therefore, it is necessary to efficiently make use of opportunities to increase labor productivity, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy, and effectiveness and efficiency of the social management by studying, transferring and applying advances of the Revolution to all aspects of the socio-economic life, particularly a number of key, potential and advantageous sectors and fields, thereby creating a motive for growth to keep abreast with the region and the world in advantageous fields, then strive to surpass others. It is also required to proactively prevent and minimize negative impacts and ensuring national defense, security, social safety and equality, and sustainable development.
Industry 4.0 requires renewing thoughts on economic and social management, rationally formulating and improving institutions. The nation needs to have an open and creative approach to, and settle in a pilot manner issues arising from the reality so as to create favorable conditions for innovation. It is also a must to avoid on-looking, unconfident and passive attitudes, while refraining from taking unprepared, impatient and voluntaristic actions.  
It is required to bring into full play all resources for proactively participating in Industry 4.0, keeping in mind that internal resources are decisive, strategic for a long term while external resources are important for making breakthroughs under the Party’s leadership and the State’s management, and ensure that society’s strength is brought into the fullest use.
Objectives
General objectives: To make the best use of opportunities brought by Industry 4.0 to step up the renewal of the growth model and economic restructuring in association with the implementation of strategic breakthroughs and national modernization; to vigorously develop digital economy; to promote development in a rapid and sustainable manner and based on science and technology, innovation and high-quality human resources; to raise the living standards and social welfare for citizens; to ensure national defense and security and protect the ecological environment.
Specific targets through 2025: To keep a spot in the top three ASEAN countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII) rankings. To build digital infrastructure facilities up to the advanced standards of the ASEAN with Internet broadband covering all communes and digital economy accounting for 20 percent of GDP. Labor productivity will increase by over 7 percent per annum on average. To basically complete the digital transformation in the Party and state agencies, Vietnam Fatherland Front committees and socio-political institutions. To become one of the four leading ASEAN countries in the United Nations’ e-government index ranking. To have at least three smart urban areas in three key economic regions in the north, middle and south.
Specific targets through 2030: To keep a spot in the top 40 countries in the world in GII rankings. To ensure that the 5G mobile network will cover nationwide and all people can access broadband Internet services at low cost. Digital economy will account for 30 percent of GDP. Labor Productivity will increase by 7.5 percent per annum on average. To complete the formulation of an e-government. To form smart urban chains in the northern, central and southern key economic regions, step by step connecting them with regional and global smart urban networks.
Vision toward 2045: Vietnam will become one of the leading centers of manufacturing, smart service, startup and innovation in Asia, which has high labor productivity and is capable of mastering and applying modern technologies to all fields of socio-economy, environment, national defense and security.
Guidelines and policies to proactively participate in Industry 4.0
To renew thoughts, unify awareness, enhance the Party’s leadership and the State’s management and promote the participation of the Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations
- To raise the awareness of Party committees and authorities at all levels about the urgent need to proactively, actively and effectively participate in Industry 4.0, considering it a key task. To associate the objectives and tasks of participating in the Revolution with objectives and tasks at every level and of every sector for socio-economic development, environmental protection, and national defense and security assurance.
- To identify the core content of the national policy of proactively participating in Industry 4.0, which is to promote scientific and technological development and innovation in all sectors and fields and step up the national digital transformation, focusing on the development of a digital economy, building smart cities and an e-government which will be developed into a digital government.
- The State prioritizes transfer and vigorous application of new technologies in different sectors and fields and is responsible for promoting scientific and technological research, creating a favorable environment and providing focused and targeted support for the people and businesses to become entities that can decide on the participation in Industry 4.0.
- To promote the effective participation of the Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations and those affected by the policy in the process of planning and monitoring the implementation of policies related to Industry 4.0. To develop mechanisms for cooperation between the State and businesses and business associations in the formulation and implementation of policies.
To improve institutions to facilitate proactive participation in Industry 4.0 
and the process of national digital transformation
- To improve the legal framework, particularly the laws on enterprises, innovative startups, intellectual property, trade, investment and business in order to create favorable conditions for the national digital transformation and development of new products, services and economic models based on digital technology, the Internet and cyberspace, and at the same time to promptly prevent negative impacts on both the economy and the society, ensuring national defense and security, social order and safety in cyberspace. To add new business sectors and lines eligible for investment incentives in order to promote the participation in Industry 4.0. To formulate mechanisms for state-owned enterprises to invest in technological development research and innovative startups and make venture investments.
- To formulate management mechanisms suitable to the digital business environment, creating favorable conditions for innovation. To promptly release a controlled experimental institutional framework for technologies, products, services and business models newly emerging from Industry 4.0. To clarify the scope of testing space and duration. To build testing zones for technology enterprises after the world’s advanced models. To carry out the identification, recognition and building of a system of standards and technical regulations for new products, technologies and business models.
- To proactively participate in regional and global legal frameworks to develop the digital economy. To perfect the laws and policies on data and data management, thereby facilitating the creation, connection, sharing and mining of data to ensure national cyber safety and security for future connection with the ASEAN countries and the world. To build a legal framework for national digital identification and electronic authentication, and develop a national digital identity framework.
- To improve financial policies to mobilize all social resources to invest in scientific research, technological development and application and innovation activities. To amend the regulations on investment toward facilitating the capital attraction, share purchase, and merger and acquisition of technology enterprises, with foreign investors contributing capital to innovative startups.
- To improve the law on intellectual property, and protect and effectively and rationally exploit intellectual assets created by Vietnamese; to encourage the commercialization and transfer of intellectual property rights, particularly inventions in Vietnam on the basis of compliance with domestic laws and assurance of national interests and security. To encourage multinational companies to set up their research and development institutions in Vietnam.
- To improve the laws and policies on financial and monetary systems, electronic payment, tax administration and cross-border services in line with the development trend of the digital economy. To improve the policies on placement of production orders for and public procurement of digital technology products made in Vietnam.
- To enact policies to minimize negative impacts of Industry 4.0. To create a legal framework for the implementation of new labor and employment models on the platform of digital technology, complete social security policies in line with this Revolution, and promptly address challenges posed to the social development. To promote the participation in Industry 4.0 with a view to addressing environmental pollution, climate change and sea level rise.
- To formulate and implement the national strategy for development of technology enterprises, with priority given to the development of digital technology and hi-tech enterprises that design, create and manufacture products in Vietnam.
- To develop and complete the legal framework on development of sustainable smart cities; the system of national standards and technical regulations; the data infrastructure system and criteria system for assessment of operation efficiency of smart cities. To work out a roadmap for selection of cities to be built on a pilot basis into smart cities; and permit the pilot implementation of special mechanisms during the pilot development of smart cities in order to ensure the effectiveness and suitability with practical conditions.
Essential infrastructure development policies
- To provide high-quality broadband Internet services nationwide. To encourage capable private enterprises to participate in the construction of telecommunications infrastructure facilities and other infrastructure facilities for national digital transformation.
- To formulate and develop synchronously the national data infrastructure system. To form a synchronously and uniformly connected system between the national data center and regional and local data centers. To establish reliable and stable data systems of the State and enterprises. To invest in equipment for collection, storage, processing and protection of public data.
- To plan the construction of national digital payment infrastructure facilities for common use in a synchronous and uniform fashion which can effectively utilize and exploit the telecommunications network infrastructure to deploy low-rate payment services for the people. To complete mechanisms and policies to strongly promote non-cash payments. To encourage Vietnamese businesses to develop digital payment systems. To strictly manage and control the forms of cross-border online payment.
- To upgrade technical infrastructure facilities to ensure cyber safety and security. To develop and effectively implement Politburo Resolution 30-NQ/TW dated July 25, 2018, on the national cyber-security strategy.
- To upgrade infrastructure facilities of important and essential sectors and fields in a coordinated and modern manner in order to meet the technological application requirement of Industry 4.0, first of all energy and transport infrastructure. To firmly ensure the national energy security.
Policies on development and raising of the national innovation capacity  
- To comprehensively restructure the system of public scientific and technological research institutions. To build and develop national innovation centers, focusing on core technologies of Industry 4.0. To improve the efficiency of public investment in scientific and technological research activities on the basis of applying a new governance model according to the world’s good practices.
- To apply special and breakthrough mechanisms and policies to innovation centers. To develop the national innovation system toward putting businesses at the center and turning universities and research institutes into capable research institutions. To encourage domestic and foreign universities, businesses and organizations to set up their innovation centers in Vietnam.
- To issue a system of national standards and technical regulations to serve as a basis for the application and development of core technologies of Industry 4.0 in production and life. To create the legal framework and system of policies in a coordinated and timely manner to apply and develop new technologies. To formulate and implement programs to support businesses in technological research and application, digital transformation, improvement of productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy.
- To complete models and finalize mechanisms and policies to facilitate the breakthrough development of hi-tech parks. To develop innovative urban centers up to international standards on the basis of hi-tech parks of Hoa Lac (Hanoi), Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. To promote the development of innovative startup ecosystems and accelerate the establishment of national startup centers in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City in the immediate future.
Human resource development policies
- To conduct overall review of and renovate education and training contents and programs in the direction of developing capability to access, creative thinking and adaptability to the technological environment that is constantly changing and developing; to introduce basic digital and foreign language skills into general education curricula. To reform teaching and learning methods based on applied digital technology, taking enterprises’ evaluation as a measure for the training quality of universities in the field of information technology. To encourage the application of new education and training models based on digital platforms.
- To adopt mechanisms to promote and provide incentives for technology organizations, individuals and enterprises directly engaged in the education and training and creation of products to serve the digital economy. To build high-class technology education and training centers in the form of public-private partnership. To further improve mechanisms and policies to encourage, attract and use talents and high-quality human resources.
- To strongly develop vocational training and support training of skills for persons who wish to change jobs. To formulate state policies to support employees when joining in professional training, further training and skills improvement courses for occupational transfer.
- To form an open learning network for Vietnamese. To follow the roadmap of universalizing digital cyber safety and security skills so that people can acquire basic skills. To step up the public communication to raise awareness of, and build digital culture in, the community.
Policies on development of priority sectors and technologies
- To concentrate on developing priority sectors of high availability such as information technology industry, electronics-telecommunications; cyber safety and security; intelligent manufacturing industry; finance-banking; e-commerce; digital agriculture; digital travel; digital culture industry; healthcare; and education and training.
- To allocate resources for the implementation of national key research programs on priority technologies, with a focus on information technology and communications, mechatronics and new technologies in the field of energy, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and biomedical electronics.
- To implement state policies to support priority sectors and technologies mainly by reforming and completing institutions, creating a favorable business environment; supporting infrastructure investment; developing human resources and science and technology; and placing public procurement orders.
International integration policies
- To expand and deepen scientific and technological cooperation with partners, particularly strategic partners with advanced science and technology and leading the way in Industry 4.0. To proactively participate in the global innovation network.
- To intensify the attraction and efficient use of resources from foreign countries and international partners for research, application, innovation, startup and technology transfer.
- To improve laws and policies on foreign direct investment toward raising technology standards, encouraging joint ventures, and strengthening linkages and technology transfer between domestic enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises; to strictly manage operations of enterprises based on the platform for provision of transnational services in order to ensure an equal business environment in the country. To improve the regulations on foreign-invested venture capital.
Policies to promote digital transformation in Party and State agencies, the Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations
- To take the lead in the vigorous digital transformation in the agencies of the Party, National Assembly, Government, Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations in order to ensure unity, interconnection and synchronization.
- To build a digital database of the Government and authorities at all levels, creating favorable conditions for all citizens to update necessary information on the operation of the state apparatus. To invest in building infrastructure facilities to collect and manage Internet-based data and transactions in state agencies.
- To focus on building a pool of cadres, civil servants and public employees who can meet the requirements of Industry 4.0; to standardize and increase the capacity of state management officials at all levels. To clearly define functions, tasks and mechanisms for coordination between state management agencies in the process of digital transformation. To improve administrative procedures to suit operations of digital administrations, and minimize in-person transactions./.

Source: Vietnam Law & Legal Forum magazine