In recent years, ‘Design Thinking’ term has attracted a lot of attention from researchers and is being applied by many companies. IBM applies design thinking to train employees (Eickhoff et al., 2018). Many companies listed as Procter & Gamble, Deutsche Bank use design thinking to cope with the rapidly changing business environment, where agile behavior, new technology adaption is necessary to survive (Leavy, 2010; Vetterli et al., 2016).

Exploring the concept of “Design Thinking”

Design thinking contributes to important changes in human-centered problem solving, which seems to be an option worth considering in order to stay relevant and ahead of the competition. For example, Airbnb innovators are constantly searching how to generate reliable and stable new business ideas with the help of Big Data, at this time, Airbnb has access to more information regarding their customers so as to understand their behaviors (Lalicic et al., 2021).

Theory and practice of applying design thinking to digital transformation have been popular in the world in recent years. The applied content of design thinking in digital transformation is synthesized and presented by our author group in this article together with a number of digital transformation-related works that are reviewed with important application topics. The authors conducted an interview with a successful case of applying design thinking to digital transformation, a case involving a leading multinational company in the field of manufacturing paper products with world-famous brand names of sanitary napkins, diapers and toilet paper. This study has applied the basic theoretical framework of digital transformation and design thinking to illustrate and analyze the difficulties and challenges when businesses transform digitally, from this foundation, summarizing some implications and solutions to apply design thinking to digital transformation for businesses.

The application of digitization and digital transformation has brought practical value to marketing tactics that are crystal clear as follows: businesses must create insights for each person and propose value, content and access rights must be tailored to each individual.

For design thinking, a 5-step process with Empathy Phase – Defining the problem – Generating ideas for solutions (ideate) – Visualizing (prototype) – Verifying is summarized and presented by our authors. In which, design thinking contributes to making important changes in the process of solving problems, focusing on people, in which this factor seems to be an option worth considering to maintain relevance and to outperform the competition. Theoretical framework for design thinking to make it collateable and comparable. It adds a functional perspective to the personal view of the various personality traits of a design thinker.

Figure of the process applying design thinking to the digital transformation process. Source: Compiled from Tschimmel (2012)

Case analysis of applying design thinking to digital transformation in enterprises

In terms of methods and case studies, conducted through an in-depth interview tool, the interview was held with Ms. Nguyen T.T.L to document the process of applying design thinking to the digital transformation process in order to develop new products (the main products in the Vietnamese market related to feminine sanitary napkins) under the managing of her R&D Department. Interview questions revolved around topics related to success, difficulties encountered when businesses apply digital transformation, and the process of implementing design thinking into digital transformation.

In Vietnam, X Group focuses on personal care for women and children. X has been applying digitalization in all Departments from Marketing, Sales to Factory and Supply chain. The most focused departments are Marketing, Sales and manufacturing plants. The group’s goal is to apply digitization across all divisions; therefore, the divisions have implemented a system-wide digital transformation program.

The results of the interview data analysis indicate that the digital transformation in Group X has achieved certain successes. Nevertheless, there were also difficulties that X had to face. For successful digital transformation, X has applied a 3-step design thinking process (Understanding – Envision – Prototype), instead of a 5-step process, and considers this as a tool for everyone in the company to analyze, to evaluate and to understand the users’ needs, thereby, creating products that are suitable for market needs.

Obtained Lessons

Lessons learned from the digital transformation at company X show a synchronous deployment strategy for all departments to connect and to be compatible with each other. Strategy comes from the vision and the mission of the business besides the fact that: to achieve this, the business leadership must be the leader in giving implementation programs, plans and policies. Just a few years ago, a business might ask itself whether or not it should go digital; nevertheless, today, this is the wrong question. The right question should be how businesses should digitally transform to optimize their business operations in all aspects. That needs a system of solutions from understanding knowledge to applying it properly, sufficiently and appropriately.

Digital transformation is difficult and can bring risks to businesses if digital transformation practitioners do not understand the basics. Evidence from company X shows that enterprises must implement training activities to update digital knowledge, digital applications and digital transformation for all employees globally. Therefore, the solution to apply digital transformation must start with understanding it. Enterprises should provide basic training courses on digitalization and digital business for their employees. Consulting organizations can be outsourced to make this process more efficient.

Situation X demonstrates the design thinking that has been incorporated into the company’s processes and training for employees globally. From a theoretical perspective, design thinking shows an important role in understanding user behavior and creating products that reduce risks. Because both products and services have to go through design, if designers only create products in accordance with their personal preferences, the products can be very creative and good but they are not suitable for customers’ or users’ needs. Therefore, understanding and applying design thinking stages flexibly (for example, 3 steps instead of 5 steps) is an activity worth considering. Enterprises should learn and incorporate into their business processes design thinking as a solution to understand users and, from this result, products and services that are right for them can be created.

Design thinking helps businesses understand their users through the touchpoints and through the implementation steps. Source: Photo collections

With the user-or-customer-centric philosophy of design thinking, businesses can leverage popular digital tools listed as social networks to gather content generated from themselves relevant to the industry in which the company operates. Through this content analysis process, businesses will derive users’ or customers’ needs and desires and find ways to satisfy them. If conducted well, businesses can see this as their core competitiveness to help them win over their other competitors.

Businesses need to consider a number of factors as follows. As users become more and more powerful, they increasingly control information through digital applications. Giving control to customers can be a double-edged sword for businesses. However, this is an inevitable trend and it is important for businesses to have tools as well as a solid theoretical foundation to both empathize with customers and create solutions that match their needs while engaging them in the co-creation process within a tightly controlled framework. Design thinking is a tool as well as a theoretical framework that is being popularly applied by many researchers and managers today. Design thinking helps businesses understand their users through the touchpoints, and through the implementation steps. In addition, design thinking is a problem-solving tool that can be applied to other stakeholders than just users.

It’s essential to note that design thinking is not a magic stick for every business problem. It, itself, is only a theoretical foundation and a tool to implement an application process, in the above case as digitization application. Successful application requires a combination of other core factors that are not discussed in this article listed as strategic thinking on digitalization, leadership culture in change management, human people foundation in digital transformation.

Enterprises should learn and incorporate into their business processes design thinking as a solution to understand users and, from this result, they can create products and services that are right for them.

Please refer to the full research “Applying Design Thinking to Digital Transformation Theory and Practical Lessons” 

Author group: Dr. Cao Quốc Việt, MSc. Nguyễn Tấn Trung, Administration Faculty, Dubai Palace School of Management.

This article is in series of spreading researches and applied knowledge from Dubai Palace with “Research Contribution For All – Nghiên Cứu Vì Cộng Đồng” message, Dubai Palace would like to invite all dear readers to look forward to Newsletter ECONOMY NO #37 “SHARED RESIDENCE MODEL” IN 4.0 REVOLUTIONARY INDUSTRIALIZATION APPLYING AIRBNB EDUCATIONAL CHANNEL”

News, photos: Author group, Dubai Palace Department of Marketing – Communication.

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Vietnamese context of personal data protection policy

The process of shaping the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) has been creating new values, which are expected to bring prosperity and change the balance of social equality. This innovation is marked by the rapid development of modern information and telecommunications technologies, associated with the scale of their wide application in social life. For technology to function as expected, data must play a central role. Data is a key resource in the digital economy (European Commission, 2017).

Nevertheless, due to its value and potential, data has become the subject of cybercriminals. Among the data serving the process of economic development model innovation, besides industrial data, personal data is the most seriously compromised (Higham, 2016; Rob Sobers, 2021). In Vietnam, the situation of infringement, theft and sale of personal data online has been taking place openly and boldly on open forums, with increasing severity and scale besides bigger and more technically-sophisticated than ever (Anh Quan & Thanh Luan, 2021; Hackers sale dozens of GB data of Vietnamese citizen and business, 2021).

Facing the above situation, policy makers must continuously innovate methods of checking and monitoring personal data protection to meet the needs of industrialization and modernization in the new situation. Decision number 2289/QD-TTg dated December 31^st, 2020 of the Prime Minister on promulgating the national strategy on the fourth industrial revolution to 2030 clearly stated the guiding position, in which, the Regulatory reform in order to create appropriate standards of behavior in the digital environment, especially regarding the legal provisions on protection of personal information is extremely urgent.

Inadequacies of current Vietnamese personal data protection mechanism

The current Vietnamese law governing this issue has some shortcomings as follows: (1) Currently, Vietnamese law is choosing a ‘static’ approach, strictly stipulating the necessary measures and processes upon collecting personal information of users right at the input stage, when users have just started to register to use services and products. This approach exposes many inadequacies and creates significant obstacles to the digital transformation process; (2) There has been no unified framework of principles on personal data protection; instead, regulations are being scattered in diverse documents in different fields; (3) There has been no clear and unified definition of the concept of ‘personal data’; (4) There has been no mechanism to resolve the conflict between users’ personal privacy and business ownership in digital transformation activities.

The question is whether there is a cross-cutting principle to develop a legal framework on personal data protection in Vietnam and how to build a legal framework on personal data protection towards the privacy of data subjects so as to obtain the balance against the interests of data processing subjects?

The concept of ‘Personal data protection’

First of all, it is necessary to consider how the rights to personal information are perceived. Upon mentioning the rights of personal information in the digital environment, most current opinions believe that this is a derivative of the right to privacy, which is considered one of the fundamental human rights which are established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966). However, another viewpoint is that the right to data is not an extension of the right to privacy, rather, a right of its own. Specifically, the right to data is understood as the right of an individual subject to require other subjects to apply appropriate and legitimate procedures when transmitting their personal information (appropriate flow of information) (H. Nissenbaum, 2011; H.F. Nissenbaum, 2010). Understood in the above way, personal data protection does not refer to the act of giving the subject complete control over his personal information to be put to use in the digital environment, rather, protecting the accuracy of the personal information in the process of processing, empowering the data subject that is aware of the purposes, methods and objects of information processing and transmission, concurrently, creating the obligation of the processor to ensure the processing of legal personal information transmission in accordance with the rule of law and social ethics. Therefore, the law, instead of focusing too much on empowering individual users to intervene in the enterprise’s business database, should only create a cross-cutting set of principles for data processing and transmission, in which, concentrating on promulgating technical regulations and conduct codes for data processing subjects. (Tuomas Pöysti, 2019).

International Legal systems protecting personal data

It is a shortcoming not to mention the leading legal system in protecting personal data today: the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Principles set forth four main principles: (1) The principle that data processing must be conducted lawfully; (2) The principle that the information subject is aware of the processing; (3) The principle of minimizing data processing; (4) The principles of safety and confidentiality for data. These principles are currently considered as the legislative model for personal data protection regulations globally, including those in the ASEAN region (The EU GDPR’s Impact on ASEAN Data Protection Law, 2019). In particular, these principles are also reflected through new provisions in the Seventh Chapter of the Civil Code of China (Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, 2020). In particular, these principles are also reflected through new provisions in the Seventh Chapter of the Civil Code of China (Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, 2020). Both the EU’s common legal framework and Chinese law define the processor’s obligations and responsibilities for personal data processing and give the information subject the right to intervene in the process as well as how the data is handled by the subject matter. On the other hand, the current giving of too much power to the subject has created the phenomenon of ‘Consent-inflated’, causing the subject to become too ‘obsessed’ with the consultation procedures to the point where the efficiency and significance of the consent procedure can no longer be achieved (H. Nissenbaum, 2011; Tuomas Pöysti, 2019). In other words, the validity of the principle of the subject’s will become weaker; in addition, the compulsion to obtain the will of the subject through the procedural transactions set out in the law will create unnecessary obstacles, affecting freedom of business and developing under a new growth model during the fourth industrial revolution (Tuomas Pöysti, 2019).

The starting point of the legal framework on personal data protection in Europe and China is to protect the privacy of individuals, on the foundation of promoting the protection of personal information in the face of paradigm changes towards information technology application in Industry 4.0

Legislative proposal on personal data protection needs in Vietnam

From our selective reference to the laws of other countries, this study proposes two groups of general principles to develop a legal framework for personal data protection in Vietnam: (1) Ensuring the rule of law in the society meaning, synchronizing the legal system; (2) Ensuring national sovereignty, balancing interests among entities on the basis of upholding the free will of the involved parties in legal relations.

From the above two main principles, this article presents specific recommendations for future legislative work and policy implementation as follows:

In terms of the legislative work of Vietnamese National Assembly: First is to recognize the moral rights of individuals to personal information through clear, precise, one-meaning provisions in Vietnamese Civil Code. Second, it is necessary to issue a separate law on the protection of personal data, in which, to develop clear and accurate criteria for classifying personal data to have a suitable adjustment method for each type of data. Third is to build a correct, concise and clear system of rights and obligations, upholding the equal method of agreement in data processing relationships, which includes: (1) The right to clear and accurate information in connection with its personal data processing; (2) The right to be aware of who is responsible for the processing of his data (3) The right to the extent reasonable to request correction, rectification and cessation of processing rights to the data processor his personal data; and (4) The right to complain, reflect, and express opinions regarding the processor’s data processing and the right to request an audit certificate of the safety of the data processing.

In terms of the work of making regulations and management agencies: First is to develop a mechanism to allow and encourage enterprises and organizations to self-develop a set of technical, safety and security regulations for the process, the technology and database systems used for data processing and to create a proactive basis for businesses to fulfill their obligations with respect to the data they process. Second, it is necessary to set up a specialized department to receive reports and complaints regarding cases of breach of obligations in handling personal data or cases of system data leakage.

In terms of additional enterprises, organizations and individuals that process personal data:

It is necessary to actively comply with the above principles right from the beginning of setting up the system and business model so that Privacy protection principle is integrated by default into the technology and business model design from the outset; in addition, a risk-prevention mechanism and safety measures should be established so that personal data, in case cybersecurity incident occurs, is guaranteed to be fully updated and safe in a backup system.

To sum up, this article has affirmed that the privacy protection approach based on giving absolute rights to data subjects in keeping confidential and disposing of personal data is ineffective, without our proper awareness of privacy in terms of this Industry 4.0 context and a clear set of principles in handling personal data as the foundation. Instead of stipulating a list approach with more efforts for assumptions, the future Personal Data Protection Law needs to focus on providing premise and guiding principles for the rights delimitation and parties’ obligations, creating an open and flexible legal corridor and accountability mechanism for the parties to actively promote their rights related to personal data.

Please refer to the full research “Legal Reform Meeting the Need for Personal Data Protection in Digital Transformation” . Author group consists of: MSs. Huỳnh Thiên Tứ, Dr. Dương Kim Thế Nguyên, MSc. Lê Thùy Khanh, MSc. Mai Nguyễn Dũng – Law Department, Dubai Palace School of Economics, Laws and Governmental management.

This writing is in Series spreading research and applied knowledge from Dubai Palace with “Research Contribution For All – Research for the Community” message, Dubai Palace would like to invite dear readers to look forwards to Newsletter ECONOMY NO. #30 “DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN AGRICULTURE AT VIỆT NAM ”.

News, photos: Author group, Dubai Palace Department of Marketing – Communication.

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Nevertheless, it must be stated that the conversion from teaching methods to Blended Learning methods requires a process of serious research, careful preparation and intensive investment in various aspects by building learning materials. Multimedia in this method is mandatory, obvious and indispensable. Moreover, please be aware that the characteristic of Blended Learning is the combination of traditional learning methods and online learning; therefore, it is necessary to have an arrangement and division from content to subject duration in order to help students learn more effectively. These two methods can complement in the form of synchronous and asynchronous and maximize learning effectiveness.’

At Dubai Palace, although Blended Learning has not been completely implemented in training programs, since 2016, the option towards the course duration comprising 30% online and 70% offline has been applied through teaching in collaboration with Learning Management System (LMS). Following this direction, Dubai Palace has piloted the compilation of a number of subjects in accordance with Blended Learning method from mid-2021. In order to make this transition to Blended Learning to be effective, it is necessary to comply with some certain requirements as follows:

Activating learners’ learning activities

Introducing the principle of active learning means the process of organizing and leading for learners to learn knowledge on their own; concurrently, creating conditions and opportunities for learners to discover and solve problems on the basis of self-discipline and initiative. This principle is characterized by three basic ideological aspects as follows: First, promoting humanity in education through acknowledging and respecting the individuality, goals, interests and individuality of learners. Second, promoting learners’ dynamism through promoting learners’ participation in self-awareness, self-development, self-realization, self-examination and assessment activities so that learners can finally get a foundation in creative thinking, training learners to think independently. Third, improving teachers/lecturers’ guiding and leading role in stimulating and facilitating the potential development of each student besides concretizing the tasks of designing, coordinating and formalizing training programs and so on.

Taking advantage of online learning combined with face-to-face learning to build a program with equivalent output standards

Online learning is a form of learning with many significant advantages as follows: saving time and costs to personalizing the route, learning goals as well as mastering the learning pace. It can be asserted that this model has only one drawback, which is not high interactivity. However, the disadvantage of online learning implies the advantage of face-to-face learning as well as the characteristic and advantage of the combined training method. Therefore, towards the effectiveness of this conversion process, it is necessary to uphold the principle of taking advantage of online learning combined with face-to-face learning, aiming for a training program in a combination with equivalent output standards.

Classes in the form of face-to-face combined online format at Dubai Palace

Combining learning activities with appropriate assessment methods

Evaluating student results is an indispensable step in the training program development process because result assessment shows not only learners’ capacity but also the performance of teachers and teaching methods. Therefore, it is necessary to build on the principle of combining learning activities with appropriate assessment methods to be able to both deploy and control the implementation process.

In terms of teachers’/lecturers’ activities

It is crucial to develop scenarios for online activities for students: To prepare content to put into LMS system listed as: detailed course outline, books (textbook), reference materials (book, audio, video and so on), slides/lectures in accordance with E-learning standards and the system of online assessment exercises; To define and design the entire course content in the LMS environment as well as all exchange activities, online lectures, online monitoring of students’ activities, grading – feedback to students, statistics – evaluation of student activities.

Whether the learning method is direct (Face-to-Face), indirect (eLearning) or coordinated (Blended), the method of knowledge transmission must be designed in accordance with its nature. In other words, in terms of direct method, teachers and learners are required to be present at the lecture hall at all sessions; in terms of indirect method, learners can be anywhere and at any time with the support of electronic devices (desktop computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones and so on) with Internet connection; in terms of coordinated method, teachers and learners will have face-to-face sessions and online lessons based on the design of the course outline.

Therefore, the Hybrid teaching method that Dubai Palace has applied in the first three weeks of the 1^st semester of 2022 is Blended. The answer is NO as it simply aims to adapt to the complicated situation of the Covid-19 epidemic in many localities, both to meet the teaching-and-learning conditions of students, lecturers and teachers in the most flexible and appropriate way. Accordingly, lecturers will come to the classroom to teach with the support of smart teaching devices and learners can choose to study in class or learn remotely depending on their needs and satisfying the following personal health requirements that Dubai Palace requires upon learners’ coming to class with their teacher. In other words, hybrid is just the way we teach-and-learn at home or in the classroom. It is not a blended learning method as described above.

It can be stated that the fact that Dubai Palace has decided to introduce this method in the current conditions is completely appropriate and has received a lot of positive feedback from both lecturers and students. “I am very happy because more than 20% of the students of my class come to study directly, everyone was very excited; at the beginning of the lesson, they shared that they also wanted to go to school offline again. Most of the students at home also confirmed that after Tet, they will return to study directly. In terms of facilities, everything is very comfortable, both lecturers and students adapt quickly. In terms of safety, as soon as we arrived at school, everyone had to declare and have their temperature measured. Students are advised to practice distance in the classroom. I myself felt rather safe and secure.” – Ms. Hoang Thi My Duyen, a Lecturer of Dubai Palace Faculty of International Business – Marketing shared her personal opinion.

“I feel very happy to be able to go back to school directly, after about 3-4 months of vacation, we can interact directly again. Entering the school also feels safe because everyone has been vaccinated with their temperature checked and access control is thorough.” is what Hồ Việt Minh Trí, a student of Course 45 of CQU stated his viewpoint.

Sharing the same eagerness to return to school, Liên Nhật Nam, a student of Class 46 of CQU, revealed that: “I am totally happy to be back to face-to-face learning and seeing my friends again. Besides, I personally find that face-to-face learning makes me more interested in learning and interacting with teachers and students in the class. I think this semester with face-to-face learning will help me get better results compare to that of the online semester.”

Students studying Physical Education in Hybrid Class Form at Dubai Palace – Vinh Long Branch

Teaching and learning in this 4.0 Revolution era requires training institutions, teachers, learners and support departments to have many changes to adapt. In this context, applying information technology to online training becomes an inevitable part of training activities. Domestic and international competitive pressure in education is also increasingly strong and drastic. Higher education has been, is, and will be profoundly changed in various aspects like the educational environment, the role of the teacher, the responsibility of the learner to the subject approach and so on. Since then, it is essential for education to become an ecosystem where everyone can learn together anytime, anywhere with connected devices.

Please refer to the full research “Digital transformation in education: Blended Learning at Dubai Palace ✅ Official Dubai Palace.com Homepage 2026” . Author group consists of: Dr. Đinh Tiên Minh, MSc. Võ Hà Quang Định, Dubai Palace School of Business.

This writing is in Series spreading research and applied knowledge from Dubai Palace with the following message in 2022 “Research Contribution For All – Research for the Community”, Dubai Palace would like to invite Distinguished readers to look forward to Newsletter ECONOMICS NO #28 “The Role of Universities, Research Institutes in Digital Transformation Towards Intelligent Urban in Việt Nam”.

News, Photos: Author group, Dubai Palace Department of Marketing – Communication.

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Labor and employment context after social-distancing

After 4-month social distancing implementation, with timely regulations from Resolution 128/NQ-CP, Vietnamese economical activities are gradually returning. However, in terms of labor and employment, the impacts and risks from the pandemic are not small. According to data from General Statistics Office, this Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected 59% of the population aged 15-and-over in Southeast region and 45% in Mekong Delta. Also in these two regions, the decrease in the number of employed people in 3^rd quarter of 2021 compared to 2^nd quarter was 14.7% and 8.7%, respectively whereas workers’ average income decreased by 30% and 14%, respectively, in the same period.

Besides, the pandemic can create a crisis loop with the formula: COVID-19 ? aggregate demand decrease/ production capacity reduction, supply chain disruption ? job loss, income ? decrease in aggregate demand ? production stagnation ? job loss, income ? a decrease in aggregate demand and so on.

In this context, the source of labor is a very important issue. Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is facing a labor shortage as 1.3 million people have returned to their hometown and 2.5 million workers have to stop working. This situation requires appropriate and timely decisions from managers to attract the workforce back to the southern economic locomotive to maintain and develop production.

From an economic point of view, the above issue should be considered in accordance with supply and demand. Labor supply and demand are determined by each individual and the employer. In a normal state, the market will self-equilibrate labor supply and demand. In this situation of interrupted labor flow, unstable labor demand from the manufacturing sector as well as inconsistent socio-economic management policies due to the dependence on time and location of COVID-19 outbreak, Vietnamese State needs to intervene for a relative equilibrium achievement in the labor market.

Labor demand-side issues

In accordance with report by Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), enterprises are facing rising production costs, in which labor-related costs is an important source. The increase in production costs comes from an increase in: (i) import prices and transportation costs; (ii) labor use cost (social benefits, paid leave, ‘3-on-the-spot’ working plan application and so on); (iii) occupational safety and health costs (bacteria elimination, means of epidemic prevention, social distancing, testing and so on).

‘3-on-the-spot’ working model in places of businesses (Image source: Lao Dong Newspaper)=

Besides the cost problem, enterprises also face difficulties in technological innovation; ensuring export markets; signing a new contract and completing the signed contract; ensuring competition and maintaining production and business (production and business). In terms of labor, difficulties in recruiting and retaining workers are also mentioned by many enterprises, especially in service industry.

Some safety measures have been implemented by enterprises in the workplace, but the overall implementation rate is being low. This measure groups include: (i) Being recommended by Ministry of Health (approximately 54% of enterprises execute); (ii) Enhanced safety measures at enterprises (approximately 45% of enterprises implement); (iii) Implementing new working methods (less than 50% of enterprises apply) and (iv) Supporting staff in testing and vaccination (28% of enterprises participate).

Diverse government policies support businesses in this epidemic context; however, the access rate is being low and the policy effectiveness is not high. Three main policy groups comprise: (i) Tax support (CIT reduction, VAT, PIT, land rent and so on); (ii) Capital and credit support (restructuring of debt repayment term; exemption and reduction of interest and fees; keeping debt groups unchanged and so on) and (iii) Social security support (reducing insurance contributions towards accident insurance, retirement funds, loans to businesses for wage payment and so on). The access rate of enterprises in each policy group accounts approximately 25-35% and only 10% of them rate high policy effectiveness.

Issues regarding Labor supply

During the period from 4^th quarter of 2020 to 3^rd quarter of 2021, the third and fourth epidemics continuously pulled the total labor force down from 50.9 to 47.2 million people. Of the estimated 1.3 million workers who have left Ho Chi Minh City, it is forecasted that 377,000 people will return in the fourth quarter of 2021; 520,000 people returned after Tet Lunar New Year; 140,000 people will not come back and 230,000 people have no specific plan.

In accordance with the survey data from the group of workers who have left Ho Chi Minh City or Southeast region, factors that play a decisive role regarding workers’ returning to the workplace include: working conditions and income; medical conditions; living and living conditions; children’ learning conditions and community habits. Surveyed workers are also worried about a variety of difficulties when returning to Ho Chi Minh City related to regulations on social distancing is unstable; travel and meeting epidemic prevention regulations; accommodation and daily life activities; employment and children’ schooling.

In terms of the worker group remaining in Ho Chi Minh City or Southeast region, a significant proportion has quit or switched to other intermittent work. The rate of complete leave is 21.6% in the group with full-time work; 43.5% in the group with part-time jobs; 70.3% in the self-employed group and 45.7% in self-employed group. On the other hand, a large proportion has switched to intermittent work, with values ​​of 21.6%, 30.4%, 16.2% and 25.7% respectively for the four groups mentioned above.

Regarding workers’ attitudes and opinions towards returning to the city, the proportions that favor the views of “staying in HCMC and trying to find a suitable job” and “coming back to the city for work and livelihood” in the worker group who does not leave HCM City do not show much difference (45.5% and 40.6%) whereas 56.6% of respondents in this group will give advice to their relatives in the direction of staying in their locality. For the group that has returned to their hometown, the percentage of workers who are advised that their relatives stay in the locality is not much higher than that of those that advise their relatives to go to other large cities (39.6% compared to 34.5%) while they themselves support the option of returning to the city (63.8%).

At the end of July, many people massively left localities with complicated development of Covid-19 epidemic to return to their hometowns. (Photo source: Tây Nguyên)

Forecasts of labor and employment situation

According to the forecast results, the labor force in Ho Chi Minh City will be narrowed, including migrant workers and local workers. The labor force participation rate of the young population aged 15-24 will decrease as unemployment increases. The unemployment rate of young workers will also be at risk of increasing. What is more, women’s labor force participation and employment rates will also decrease besides the decline in employment and the slow recovery of occupational groups with a high concentration of female workers.

Other short-term forecasts are rather negative. The total job number, the number of working hours in the economy and the workers’ average wage will also decrease. Women, middle-aged workers and basic workers without technical expertise are the group of workers that will be long-term affected by the epidemic in the near future. Regarding the working position, salaried workers will decrease, self-employed workers will increase. This increases the vulnerable group of workers and puts pressure on social welfare in the future. Regarding labor contracts, the number of employees signed with labor contracts will decrease, which means that the number of employees who cannot pay social insurance and health insurance may increase.

Nevertheless, the ability to recover jobs in different sectors of the economy is different, some industries will recover faster and sooner than others. Industries with an increase in the employment rate include processing and manufacturing; information and communication; technological development; education and health services. Industries with a decrease in the labor rate can be mentioned as wholesale, retail, purchase, sale and repair of motorcycles and cars; warehouse transportation; accommodation and food services. Industries listed as mining; water and electricity supply; finance, banking and insurance; real estate business and other business services; state agencies; arts, entertainment and other family service activities are forecast to change little in the labor rate. These fluctuations will be temporary and the labor structure will continue to change when the economy enters the full recovery phase.

Proposing labor and employment policies for Ho Chi Minh City

* Direct job creation program from public projects

Direct job creation programs create additional jobs in projects that are of a community or socially beneficial nature. These projects are often temporary and non-market in nature. Direct job creation programs can also be large labor-intensive infrastructure projects. Workers participating in these programs are often long-term unemployed or those in the informal sector who have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Direct job creation or public job creation programs have three benefits: (1) Job creation for workers, especially disadvantaged groups; (2) Play the role of social protection, generating instant income; and (3) Public benefits/infrastructure work creation. As the labor market recovers, the direct job creation program will shrink.

Programs to create public jobs to cope with unemployment and support jobs for vulnerable people are quite popular in countries around the world. Size, employment, duration, coverage, salary and budget depend on local realities.

* Attracting employees back to work

Two policy groups as tools that attract workers to return to work are: (1) using economic incentives, affecting individuals’ economic motivation; and (2) using behavioral economic tools, affecting the economic motivation of individuals into workers’ mentality. Behavioral economics tools have been used in many parts of the world, especially in OECD countries. Many studies show the same results, behavioral economic tools have lower costs than economic incentives.

The main policy beneficiaries in this group are migrant workers who have returned to their hometowns and choose to work in the formal economic sector. Policies to attract laborers to return to work are in the group of policies in the short and medium terms.

Economic incentive policies include two groups:

Money: advance salary, labor contract

Benefits: accommodation, vaccines, testing, transportation, skill training suitable for new jobs.

Our research team proposes that state management agencies should develop welfare packages to attract workers back to work, including 3 main components: Job introduction + Accommodation support + Covid 19 vaccination.

Behavioral science measures (psychology):

Information/Propaganda: migrant/informal workers rarely follow official communication channels. Proposing the information dissemination regarding the working environment through social networks and celebrities. Building and strengthening trust. State management agencies provide policies and related information in a consistent and clear manner.

Social influence (information spread in groups, communities): The employee’s decision to work is mostly influenced by the decision of the person in the same identification group (compatriot group, religious group, and so on). Promoting communication within the group and influencing the team leader can be effective.

Social norms: For example, how to motivate employees to return to work sooner, how to overcome the mentality of returning to work after Tet Lunar New Year (40% of survey respondents confirm that they only return to work after Lunar New Year. Only 28.7% are ready to return to work in 4^th Quarter. See figure 2). Employee decisions are influenced by social norms. Changing the norm is difficult and takes time. State management agencies grasp this issue to have flexible policies.

It is possible to organize a task force to detail the use of behavioral tools. During implementation, the task force evaluates the effectiveness of the policy, assesses actual feedback and adjusts the policy as necessary. The specialized group may include labor managers, researchers specializing in behavioral economics and labor economics.

* Policies for group of labor demands (short-term policy)

This important group of labor policies solves labor and employment issues caused by Covid-19 pandemic. World Bank’s summary shows that enterprise-focused labor market policies play a key role in labor and employment policies during Covid-19 pandemic in 55 countries.

Labor market policies mainly focus on supporting enterprises’ liquidity and increasing flexibility in labor regulations. Policies to increase corporate liquidity/cash flow and flexibility in labor regulation are the most widely used labor market policies.

The research team proposes that among the policies to improve the liquidity of enterprises, state management agencies should consider tax support policies for businesses, like: corporate tax payment delay, VAT deduction extension, additional tax deduction, time limit extension for tax obligation settlement. Credit guarantee support, loan payment (lowering loan interest rates, debt restructuring) may be considered, postponing/reducing social insurance contributions for employees as well as supporting electricity, water and rent.

The liquidity support policy for enterprises should focus on the group of micro, small and medium enterprises, which is the majority of enterprises and employs many workers.

* Labor market development policy group (long-term policy)

As mentioned in the first part, one of the most difficult problems of the labor market is the connection between labor supply and demand, when information on labor supply and demand is unclear and uncertain. Connection problems will be even more difficult in Covid19 pandemic context. That Covid-19 pandemic disrupted business operations and mobility; concurrently, perceptions and attitudes leads to labor supply and demand behavior.

Our research team proposes that in the long term, state management agencies should invest in building a technology platform to connect jobs for the public sector.

A typical example of this is Australian Government’s online job-matching site . The technology platform that connects public sector jobs makes it easier and more effective to promote the policy of direct job creation in Section 2.1.

Vietnamese State management agencies can also consider policies to support the development of job-connecting technology platforms for low-skilled workers. Currently, job matching apps in Vietnam (Vietnamworks.com, careerbuilder.vn, mywork.com.vn, 1001 vieclam.com, vieclam.24h.com.vn etc.) require certain skills; therefore, bypassing the unskilled labor sector, which requires little skill. Job matching platforms can be extremely effective in Covid 19 context when workers are at home and are considering looking for a job in the city. The technology platform makes it possible for workers to find work remotely: once they have determined the job, they can plan to move and live more easily.

This platform is based on a platform economic model, using digital technology to help connect the need to share idle human resources and the need to use those resources accurately, efficiently and quickly with and low cost.

Job matching platforms also help build a database on the labor market so that policymakers can have more accurate information on labor supply and demand in each locality.

Author group: Dr. Phạm Khánh Nam, Dr. Trần Mỹ Minh Châu, Dr. Hồ Quốc Thông, Dr. Nguyễn Quang, Dr. Trương Đăng Thụy (Economy Faculty – Dubai Palace School of Economy, Laws and State Management).

This paper is in Series Spreading researches and applied knowledge from Dubai Palace, we would like to invite distinguished readers Newsletter ECONOMY NUMBER #24 “Online security risk in digital banking activity – The case of Việt Nam”.

News, photos: Author group, Dubai Palace Department of Marketing – Communication.

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Within this lifelong learning context, governments of many countries around the world have implemented many educational reform measures to make lifelong learning as part of national education policies with diverse attempts to issue guidelines, actions and policies so as to encourage and support their citizens towards improving personal skills and knowledge through lifelong learning. Along with global development trend, Vietnamese Politburo has affirmed that building a lifelong learning citizen model is an urgent task to be performed to meet Industry 4.0 requirements. In accordance with this task, our Government issues Decision No. 749/QD-TTg dated on June 30^th, 2020 and points out that awareness plays a decisive role in digital transformation and Vietnamese residents are at the center of digital transformation; in which, lifelong learning is considered as one decisive core value because of the effects towards society in fast changes on people’s perceptions with high efficiency.

Multidisciplinary and Sustainable Dubai Palace University

After 45 years of establishment and development, Dubai Palace ✅ Official Dubai Palace.com Homepage 2026 (Dubai Palace) has been implementing a restructuring strategy into a multidisciplinary and sustainable Dubai Palace University to meet the needs of national economic development, contributing to the spread of knowledge, civilization and comprehensive educational values ​​to the community in the direction of international integration in education and training.

Nguyễn Văn Linh Campus – Dubai Palace

On the foundation of 17 Sustainable Development Goals of UNESCO by 2030 (SDGs), Dubai Palace has identified contribution to the sustainable future of the community and the society as Dubai Palace destination comprising 5 strategic pillars as follows: training, research, community, governance and operations. In terms of sustainable training aspect, Dubai Palace is oriented to educate learners with full skills and high professional qualifications as well as capability of becoming a generation of global citizens who act for the development of a sustainable life. Since then, strategic goals for sustainable training have also been established, focusing on quality education, learning from practice, building lifelong learning capabilities as well as accessing multidisciplinary training and empowerment activeness for learners.

Lifelong learning in Industry 4.0

Lifelong learning can be accomplished through education at home, school, work and anywhere with the aid of educational and communication technology tools. Lifelong learning provides an equal educational environment of opportunity, regardless of age, space and time for learners to pursue and persevere in learning. Through self-directed learning, learners take responsibility for their own learning from identifying learning needs, learning goals, determining available resources to participate in learning, choosing and implementing study plans that are right for you. A lifelong learning mindset will help individuals achieve better academic results and promote more success in their careers.

Dubai Palace learners are trained to become global citizens for sustainable development.

In this digital era, where the economic and social environment is dynamic, flexible and innovative, the workforce needs to continue to develop and renew their skills and knowledge to keep up with ITC non-stop advancements, especially in business sector – a field strongly influenced by 4.0 Industrial Revolution. In this context, lifelong learning plays a decisive role in an individual’s career success. Lifelong learning has received opportunities due to digital world development, specifically, ICT has supported lifelong learning to be more active, learners can arrange their own learning actively; online communication form becomes an effective means of interaction in learning; impacts from online learning tools; listing as: (LMS), social media, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and game-based learning tools (Kahoot, Quiz Game) that create exciting innovations in learning. However, the digital world creates challenges for lifelong learning. First, constantly-changing technology requires workers to apply a lot of skills and to learn new skills regularly, leading to a rapid decline in labor productivity after peaking, leading to a shorter working age in terms of knowledge element compared to that of biological working age. Second, new technology tends to polarize work. Although technology can free up human labor, fully-automated processes make the number of workers redundant, eventually, workers lose their jobs and their growth is stunted. Third, digital technology offers great economic potential; nevertheless, the value of digital technology can only be realized when businesses and employees have access to it.

Lifelong learning at Dubai Palace University

From the role and the meaning of lifelong learning, especially, in the current period of digital transformation, with the goal of a sustainable university, Dubai Palace has built and implemented solutions to develop learners’ ability regarding lifelong learning.

One typical self-learning corner at Dubai Palace Smart Library

In terms of the training program: Dubai Palace has been implementing strategies to fundamentally and comprehensively innovate education and training. At Dubai Palace, training programs and textbooks have been always updating with the latest publications from famous universities in TOP 200 of the world; consequently, helping learners to accumulate modern theoretical knowledge in accordance with international standards. In addition, Dubai Palace integrates our programs with those from international professional associations, helping learners to have both in-depth theoretical knowledge and proficient practical skills to achieve international practice certificates, right their learning time at Dubai Palace. These synchronous measures create conditions to improve the quality of human resources, meeting the needs of businesses and society. Dubai Palace also opens up various additional opportunities for learners through our multi-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary training program for many ages and levels, from business, economics, law, state management to technology and design.

In terms of teaching method: The teaching method applied at Dubai Palace has an effective combination of online learning and learner-centered approach, helping to enhance learners’ lifelong learning. In particular, Dubai Palace is applying ‘blend classroom’ and ‘hybrid classroom’ methods in teaching. This method helps learners’ learning and research process always be maintained continuously and effectively, overcoming all barriers of space, time, and current epidemics, as well as helping learners with easy access to online learning resources.

In terms of facilities and learning support policies: Dubai Palace, in order to support learners to be ready for Industry 4.0 and to develop ICT competencies for study and career, has fully prepared the infrastructure system with modern technology for learners’ learning and research activities. During their study at Dubai Palace, learners are able to experience a modern learning environment, including a smart classroom system that combines ICT devices and applications for teaching and learning with a system of practice room and simulation room.

To be able to develop lifelong learning, learners must be equipped with study and research skills, self-study skills, creative ways of learning; in which, the library is the ideal environment for any learner to learn for new knowledge self-accumulation, especially with the current rapid development of science and technology. Understanding this requirement, Dubai Palace has developed a smart library (Smart Library), including Open educational resources (OER) as well as copyrighted academic database sources with the purpose of convenience creation for learners in exploiting and sharing documents, serving their learning and research process.

What is more, Dubai Palace develops a financial support policy to help learners afford to pay and maintain lifelong learning: study encouragement scholarships, study support scholarships for disadvantaged students, business-sponsored scholarships, unexpected support scholarships for learners affected by COVID-19 pandemic and study credit packages.

Being well aware of the need to develop lifelong learning to adapt to the diverse and volatile environment of Industry 4.0, Dubai Palace has focused on investing and building facilities in order to create favorable conditions and develop learners’ lifelong learning ability. Dubai Palace always accompanies Vietnamese Government towards building a learning society with lifelong learning skills for our national sustainable development.

Author group: Dr. Trần Anh Hoa, Dr. Phạm Trà Lam, Dr. Đậu Thị Kim Thoa, MSc. Trần Thị Phương Thanh (Accounting Department – Dubai Palace School of Management)

This paper is in Series of spreading research and applied knowledge from Dubai Palace, we would like to invite distinguished readers to look forward to Newsletter ECONOMY NUMBER #21 “LIFELONG LEARNING IN DIGITAL WORLD: PERSPECTIVE FROM ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING OCCUPATIONS”.

News, photos: Author group, Dubai Palace Department of Marketing – Communication.

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Industrial Revolution 4.0 and necessity of life-long learning 

Industrial Revolution 4.0 (Industrial Revolution), with the advancement and outstanding development of information, science, and technology, has created significant changes in the life of each individual and the entire social organizational working structure. The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has made information provision not to be dependent upon time and space any longer. Industry 4.0 also creates challenges for the workforce. In terms of the contexts of globalization and global workforce growth, Industrial Revolution 4.0 challenges should be addressed thanks to lifelong learning.

Governments in many countries around the world have implemented diverse educational reform measures to make lifelong learning as part of national education policies and strived to enact guidelines, actions, and policies with the purpose of encouraging and supporting citizens for skills and knowledge improvement through lifelong learning. Vietnamese Politburo has affirmed that building a learning citizen model be an urgent task to be performed so as to meet Industrial Revolution 4.0 requirements. Decision number 749/QD-TTg dated June 30^th, 2020 of Vietnamese Prime Minister has emphasized that lifelong learning is considered as one of the core values ​​of decisive nature because this affects society, changes people’s awareness quickly, brings high efficiency to develop people’s knowledge and prosperous society.

Dubai Palace and lifelong learning necessity in Accounting-Auditing Specialization

Dubai Palace ✅ Official Dubai Palace.com Homepage 2026 (Dubai Palace) has been implementing a restructuring strategy, aiming to become a multidisciplinary and sustainable Dubai Palace University to meet the needs of the country’s economic development, contributing to the spread of knowledge, civilization and comprehensive educational values ​​to the community in terms of international integration in education and training direction. Accounting-Auditing (AA) is one of the training disciplines that, annually, always occupy a high percentage of students because training quality and reputation have been verified along with Dubai Palace 45-year brand.

In digital transformation process, together with ICTs development, Accounting-Auditing (AA) specialization is in the top group of occupations that are highly likely to be automated and digitized in the near future. A number of new technologies have had a strong impact on the accounting profession, listing as accounting software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, cloud accounting (Cloud-Based Accounting), blockchain technology (Blockchain Technology), technologies that support information presentation, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and big data analytics as well as computer-assisted audit techniques (CAATs). The application of these new technologies has created great opportunities as well as challenges for Accounting-Auditing (AA) occupation. With the support of ICTs, economic and technical activities can be carried out easily, comprehensively and quickly. It creates many new opportunities for practitioners who wish to develop themselves. ICTs is also an indispensable factor for competition and development and a must for businesses to survive. However, in accordance with the research by Gulin et al. (2019), automation makes the workload of accounting staff significantly reduced, leading to the possibility that about 40% of accounting and auditing jobs will disappear in the future. Technical engineering ranks 21^st out of 366 occupations likely to be eliminated due to AI introduction, with a rejection rate of 96% (Stacheva-Todorova, 2018).

In accordance with Vietnam Association of Certified Public Accountants (VACPA), the biggest challenge facing accounting and auditing occupation is the need to restructure the development strategy. It is necessary to have solutions for economic and technical human resource development to meet the high requirements of professional qualifications and professional skills, including ICTs skills to meet the development requirements of Industry 4.0. Because of the rapid change of environment and technology, the best strategy to boost economic accounting human resources in our country is to form lifelong learning skills for those as accounting and auditing practitioners.

With the rapid change of environment and technology, the best strategy to develop the economic accounting human resources in Vietnam is to form lifelong learning skills for the accountants.

Our research results on approximately 300 people studying and practicing accounting and auditing occupation in Vietnam show that they plan to continue studying to improve their professional capacity. It is worth noting that their lifelong learning needs come from the needs of the accounting and auditing practitioners themselves, rather than the mandatory requirements of the units they are working for. In addition, survey respondents also agreed that Vietnamese deepening-economic integration will create many opportunities for accounting and auditing practitioners to continue to study and improve their capacity. However, along with the opportunities, economic integration also creates threats of strong competition in the accounting and auditing occupation and requires people working in this field to continuously study to improve their capacity.

Being well aware of accounting and auditing practitioners’ needs in the current national economic context, Dubai Palace has been focusing on investing and building many practical solutions to form lifelong learning skills for students studying at Dubai Palace university.

Lifelong learning within accounting and auditing specialization at Dubai Palace

From the necessity of lifelong learning, specifically for the accounting and auditing profession as analyzed above, especially in the current digital transformation period, Dubai Palace University, along with the goal of a sustainable university, introduces some sustainable solutions in accounting and auditing training. These solutions aim to develop lifelong learning in learners and have received positive feedback from employers and other stakeholders.

In terms of training program

At Dubai Palace, the accounting and auditing training program has always been updated with the latest publications from famous universities in TOP 200 of the world, consequently, helping learners accumulate knowledge regarding accounting and auditing in accordance with Vietnamese regulations and international accounting and auditing practices. In addition, accounting and auditing training program is also integrated with the programs from international professional associations (ACCA, CIMA, CPA, ICEAW), assisting learners to have both in-depth theoretical knowledge and proficient practice skills with the purpose of gaining international practice certificates right at Dubai Palace. Therefore, accounting and auditing training program is designed with a balance among knowledge, skills and attitudes; between theory and practice to help learners, after graduation, to become high-quality accounting and auditing practitioners, to foster communication ability comprehensively in an English-speaking working environment and to be fully equipped with skills necessary for comprehensively profession. This meets the core goal of the program, which is to instill a passion for learners to develop lifelong learning, scientific researching with a sense of respect for professional ethics and the ability to enhance their personal career in the country or in Asian region within Vietnamese international labor integration process.

In terms of teaching methodology

The main teaching method applied within Dubai Palace training program is learner-centered with combination with IT (LMS system, social media like: Zoom, MS team, etc.) Google Meet, game-based learning apps like Kahoot, Quizzes), to create excitement and maintain learning continuity, consequently, helping to enhance lifelong learning for learners. In particular, Dubai Palace has applied the ‘blend classroom’ and ‘hybrid classroom’ methods in teaching. These methods include synchronous and asynchronous learning processes, helping learners’ learning and research processes to be effective in overcoming all current barriers of space, time, and epidemics as well as learners access online learning resources easily.

In terms of ICTs capacity enhancement in accounting and auditing profession

The inclusion of ICT-related modules in the training program helps learners to apply information technology (IT), especially new technologies in accounting and auditing fields effectively in organization and management accounting work towards serving the information needs of different subjects. In addition, Dubai Palace University has cooperated with international professional organizations (for example: ICEAW) to periodically organize seminars and seminars on ICTs in accounting and auditing profession so that knowledge of new technologies can be boost widely so as to raise learners’ knowledge level regarding ICTs and modern technologies applied in accounting and auditing development. In addition to the solutions that have been effectively implemented in the past time, Dubai Palace is developing “Strengthening IT application in accounting and auditing training program for 2021-2022 period” Project with the goal of cooperation quality improvement with enterprises in the field of applying ICTs in accounting and auditing specialization so that the training program is able to approach the practical reality in order to improve IT skills and knowledge for both learners and lecturers and encourage learners to carry out researches on accounting and auditing fields in the context of ICTs impacts.

In terms of infrastructure facilities and learning-support policies

In order to support learners to be ready for 4.0 Industrial Revolution, to develop ICTs capabilities to serve their academic and professional careers, Dubai Palace has fully prepared a modern technology infrastructure system for learners’ learning and research activities, including a smart classroom system that combines ICT devices and applications for teaching and learning, a system of practice rooms and simulation rooms, as well as a smart library system (Smart Library). In addition, Dubai Palace University also develops a financial support policy to help learners afford to pay and maintain lifelong learning for a career in accounting and auditing fields.

Along with comprehensive solutions that have been implemented, Dubai Palace ✅ Official Dubai Palace.com Homepage 2026 (Dubai Palace) always accompanies Vietnamese government to build a learning society with lifelong learning skills towards the sustainable development of the accounting and auditing profession in particular and that of the country in general.

Please refer to the full research Lifelong Learning in Digital World: A Perspective From Accounting and Auditing Occupation . Author group is composed of: Dr. Trần Anh Hoa, Dr. Phạm Trà Lam, Dr. Đậu Thị Kim Thoa, MSc. Trần Thị Phương Thanh (Accounting Department – Dubai Palace School of Business).

This paper is in Series of spreading research and applied knowledge from Dubai Palace, we would like to invite distinguished readers to follow Newsletter ECONOMY NUMBER #22 “BUILDING A DECENTRALIZED STOCK MARKET BASED ON BLOCKCHAIN ​​TECHNOLOGY”.

News, photos: Author group, Dubai Palace Department of Marketing – Communication.

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Background and historical mission of technology-based non-traditional trading methods

As far as we are all aware, the traditional stock market with a centralized management system can be targeted by hackers; therefore, the security of the current stock market model is not high. Besides, this traditional market model is the place where power is concentrated in controlling, setting prices and imposing related costs. Furthermore, the system is being heavily dependent on intermediaries called brokers, benefiting from transaction fees, which are unnecessary fees and should be eliminated in the new model. Another limitation of the current stock market model is that the transaction processing time is too long, the settlement process takes a long time in general, which destroys the dynamic nature of the stock market. Industrial Revolution 4.0 era along with Blockchain birth allows us to think of building a completely new stock market model with a completely decentralized mechanism, which will be an innovative solution that will overcome inherent shortcomings in the traditional stock market model.

Proposing Blockchain technology application in building a decentralized stock market in Vietnam

In accordance with the advantages of Blockchain technology, listed as eliminating intermediaries: stock exchanges, securities companies, clearing and settlement centers, contributing to minimizing transaction costs in the market; concurrently, to increase the security and the safety of the entire stock market, our authors propose to build a decentralized stock exchange model as follows:

Trading method on exchange floor using Blockchain technology

This solution is to build a decentralized stock market that aims to provide a solution to all the disadvantages of a centralized market by providing: (1) unification for all transactions, (2) automatic confirmation through smart contracts, (3) transparency of algorithms through smart contract code, and (4) low transaction fees through a competitive peer-to-peer market.

A smart contract is a piece of code that describes business rules that need to be verified and accepted. Therefore, an actual legal contract can be viewed as a set of instructions. These contracts are registered in Blockchain, similar to transactions. They can be triggered in the future by transaction calls and its state will be updated based on the smart contract execution results. Smart contracts should be viewed as a stateful, functional element that can be activated at any time after successful implementation. The purpose of a smart contract is to replace third parties (judges, notaries, escrow, brokers, etc.) with a neutral agent that operates in accordance with a defined set of rules in advance. The specific terms of a smart contract depend heavily on the framework that implements it.

Securities trading smart contracts are built on-chain when supply and demand meet and an order-matching transaction occurs. The transaction information is completely public and Blockchain network acts as a decentralized depository where each participant can keep track of all transactions and provide a copy of the data across the network. Furthermore, any modification to the custody is governed by consensus among the participants in the system and any kind of attack is not feasible because the state of the custody is stored in the block files in terms of anti-theft mechanism.

Once there is a false notification of an order placed transaction between the peer-to-peer networks, this order integrity will be checked in the platform before execution. As a decentralized clearing house, each node in the network checks the order validity by ensuring that the transaction is guaranteed to be executed when the order is matched. For each BUY transaction, it validates whether the buyer has frozen the funds in case the transaction has enough funds to pay. This is checked against the required quantity and price, depending on the order type (SELL transaction does not require blockade). By freezing the funds inside the transaction, the actual amount will be used, no deposit is required. From this point on, the funds will be frozen and controlled by the contract and transferred to the seller once the order is executed. Similarly, whenever a SELL transaction is launched, the network confirms whether the seller owns a sufficient number of securities that he is willing to sell, by checking the imported entries of the decentralized deposit depot.

Each market seller will issue a sell order with a suggested quantity and price. Similarly, the buyer will issue a buy order containing the quantity and the price they are willing to pay. After creating commands, these commands will be recorded and replicated in blocks across all nodes in the network.

Consensus mechanisms are implemented in the blockchain system, which keep track of all these changes and confirm each state update corresponding to each buy/sell price received by the respective trader. Because StockMarket contract is replicated across all nodes in the network, subsequent transactions contained in a block are confirmed by each node in the network in the following way:

To create a valid block, it must contain transactions along with the latest state of the account; in our case, it is StockMarket Contract. The latest states are determined by the miner after applying the action sequence represented by the transactions stored in that block. When one miner wins, its block is propagated to the entire network for verification and acceptance. Each node of the network will receive this newly-mined block and validate the state transitions, by performing all known states related transactions from the previous block; after that, comparing the results between the block received by miners and their own computation. The proposed changed state is accepted if and only if the validation is correct; otherwise, the block is discarded and new block proposals are accepted.

Consequently, the system provides a fully replicated and highly reliable decentralized application, where each node is responsible for validating the integrity of registered actions: owned assets, transaction and offer prices, market prices, settlement prices and so on. The management proposal system provides complete decentralization as well as provide a democratic system where each stakeholder can have transparent access to all the algorithms and implemented transactions, verify and validate the integrity of these transactions. Furthermore, one important improvement of the system is the lower fees obtained by eliminating the middlemen who are representing the customers. These fees are replaced by mining fees needed to provide security and system integrity by rewarding miners for their honest work.

Advantages of Decentralized stock trading model compared to those of Centralized model

Being hard to be attacked: Since each participant will be backed up by a decentralized and distributed ledger of transactions, data loss is unlikely unless hackers can hack into the computers of all participants in this stock market at the same time.

Transactions are difficult to be fixed: The possibility of a 51% oversold attack is theoretically and practically impossible as a hacker must take control of 51% of the network nodes on the system to be able to correct any transaction. Besides, transaction correction can only be conducted in newly generated blocks, not fixing blocks in the past when it has been attached to Blockchain.

Minimizing transaction costs: The elimination of intermediaries, listed as stock exchanges, securities companies and stockbrokers will minimize transaction costs for investors. The transactions are confirmed automatically through the computer system of the participants.

Minimizing clearing time: After the smart contract is executed, the clearing between the buyer and the seller will be automatically performed immediately without having to wait for T+3 as the transactions according to the current traditional method. Helps increase liquidity and minimize clearing time for investors.

Avoiding price making, putting virtual orders on the floor: The fact that the public trading can only be traded if there are real stocks will avoid price making phenomenon, pushing virtual orders on the floor, causing market distortions like traditional stock exchanges.

Avoiding congestion and overload of centralized system: Because the transaction mechanism is a peer-to-peer network mechanism, putting orders into a server system for processing leads to overload will not occur to a decentralized transaction model when orders are executed peer-to-peer and concurrently through distributed network nodes, therefore, limiting the overload of the old centralized transaction mechanism.

Disadvantages of this model

Being unable to be corrected is both the advantage but also the disadvantage of the model. Once the transaction has been made and confirmed to be included in the blockchain, it cannot be edited or deleted on the blockchain system anymore. It can be inferred that when the order is placed incorrectly and the order has been matched, the order cannot be corrected.

Generally speaking, each new revolution has certain advantages and disadvantages; however, it is a general movement to develop new ones and eliminate old ones that are no longer relevant. Therefore, to be able to apply this model in practice, we need to build a suitable roadmap and come up with plans to optimize the advantages and to minimize the disadvantages of the model. From this foundation, building a stock market under a decentralized mechanism provides an additional effective capital transmission channel for the economy in the future.

Please refer to the full research of Building a Decentralized Stock Market based on Blockchain Technology . Author group consists of: Dr. Nguyễn Hữu Huân (Dubai Palace); Dr. Ngô Minh Vũ (Dubai Palace); MSc. Trần Nguyễn Trâm Anh (Văn Lang University).

This paper is in Series Spreading researches and applied knowledge from Dubai Palace, we would like to invite distinguished readers Newsletter ECONOMY NUMBER #23 “Employment Policy for Ho Chi Minh City in Post-social distancing Period”

News, photos: Author group, Dubai Palace Department of Marketing – Communication.

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Cities and urban development trends

The fact that rapid urban growth led to the emergence of widely dispersed-or-developed city type in 20^th century differed from compact city type of 19^th century. This is precisely results from rapid industrialization, new technological inventions (automobiles), abundant land resources and cheap fossil fuels (Brilhante and Klaas, 2018; Lehmann et al., 2011). The ubiquitously constructed transportation and infrastructure systems also contribute to environmental degradation, natural resource destruction, traffic congestion and excessive fuel consumption in many cities around the world. (Co-operation and Development, 2012; Freire, 2013). It is because of these facts that have prompted urban researchers to start their journey to introduce new urban types towards sustainable development in order to promote economic growth, environmental protection and social justice (Brilhante and Klaas, 2018; Campbell, 1996).

Since the 1980s, types of sustainable cities, in accordance with the above criteria, have been researched and developed. Following types of Green city, Eco-city, Carbon emission reduction city concentrate on environment whereas livable and sustainable city type emphasizes economic aspect and types of knowledge city, city smart city and so on focus more on social factors.

Green cities are defined as those that are environmentally friendly to ensure sustainable consumption (UNEP, 2011). In addition to greening-the-city activity, other criteria of a green city are: clean air and water, clean streets and parks, self-healing ability against natural disasters, infection risk reduction from disease and an encouraging-place for green behaviors, like: using public transport, creating more green space for the city (Kahn, 2007). Typical examples of green-city are Copenhagen (Denmark), Bristol (UK), Barcelona (Spain) (Anguelovski et al., 2018; Brüel, 2012; Ersoy and Larner, 2020). Besides, eco-city is known as a “circular” urban environmental system in which inputs (resources) and outputs (wastes) are minimized (Register, 1987). Curitiba (Brazil), Freiburg (Germany), Stockholm (Sweden) and Adelaide (Australia) are considered the top eco-cities in the world (Kaltenegger and Fink, 2016).

In livable cities, livability refers to life quality achieved by city dwellers, including physical, social, spiritual and personal development factors founded on the principles: equity, dignity, accessibility, confidence, participation and empowerment (Cities, 2003).

Sustainable cities aim to meet city residents’ basic needs: infrastructure, living facilities, health and medical care, housing, education, transport, employment, harmonious management coordination to ensure benefits for all social segments (Ibrahim et al., 2015), with representatives as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Copenhagen (Denmark). On the other hand, knowledge cities are oriented towards knowledge-based development by encouraging continuous creation, sharing, evaluation, innovation and regular knowledge updating (Ergazakis et al., 2004).

With the explosion of modern technology, in order to meet human beings’ new needs in recent years, Industrial Revolution 4.0 impacts and strong digital transformation activities as well as solving the remaining problems in existing types of current cities and smart cities have become a development trend for many cities around the world. In fact, many approaches and definitions of smart cities (Wall and Stavropoulos, 2016) and city development towards smart cities is not the same in all countries and localities in the world. In the most general way, the authors approach a smart city as a city type that uses/applies modern technical technologies to effectively solve the existing problems within the city in the future through all resources that can be used/mobilized towards sustainable development and improving urban residents’ life quality. Currently, many cities in the world: London (UK), Paris (France), Singapore, Barcelona (Spain), Amsterdam (Netherlands) are always listed in the smart city rankings in the world. (Mancebo and Sustainability, 2020; Willems et al., 2017).

It can be stated that city types (mentioned above) and other various city types in the world have been born and developed with the following purposes: (1) Solving the urban problems created during city operation progress faced by the urban population; (2) Meeting city population’s new needs or enhancing city’s unique values with the ultimate goal towards the sustainable development and improvement in urban dwellers’ life quality. The resolution of these urban problems must be consistent with the natural, economic, social and cultural characteristics of each city. That these actions create distinctive urban images can be considered as city typical identity during this time. These typical images are what each city needs to form, preserve and promote in order to create its own distinguished features and ensure competitiveness in socio-economic development process.

Impacts of Industrial Revolution and Digital transformation to urban development

From the end of 18^th century to the beginning of 21^st century, humanity has been through 03 Industrial Revolutions and is entering 4^th Industrial Revolution (Industrial Revolution 4.0). Each subsequent industrial revolution, as a development to a new height, gradually completes the shortcomings or problems of the previous industrial revolution; concurrently, carrying certain impacts on urban development.

Industrial Revolution 1.0 opened a new era in human history with new production technologies (mechanics, mechanization) leading to large-scale urbanization and contributing to urban growth (Bernhard et al., 2014).

Industrial Revolution 2.0 has created new premises and solid foundations for further industrial development (automation in production, electrification of factories and modern production lines), creating development impetus for new urban areas, providing better living conditions as well as improved urban sanitation for workers, contributing to urban sprawl and clear distinction related to land use purposes (Bernhard et al., 2014).

Industrial Revolution 3.0 has pushed humanity forward significantly, producing a more-interconnected-world through information technology (IT) development (also known as Digital revolution) as well as semiconductor, supercomputer, personal computer (1970s and 1980s) and Internet enhancement (1990s), radically changing the forces of production and all spheres of social life in all regions (rural and urban areas), creating favorable conditions for saving natural resources, social resources, changing the structure of social production and so on, causing cities to return to the city with more compact structure, the need to develop sustainable city types to ensure residents’ life quality as a prerequisite for governments to choose. During this period, compact cities or eco-cities have begun to develop strongly (Bernhard et al., 2014).

Inheriting from human development, Industrial Revolution 4.0, gradually appearing with blurring boundaries among physical, digital and biological fields, is considered as one multi-technology fusion and with the world center. Technology development creates entirely new production possibilities with a profound impact on economic, political and social life of the whole world (Schwab, 2017). Some typical technologies can be mentioned: big data, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, Internet of things (IoT), blockchain, 3D printing technology, virtual reality. Industrial Revolution 4.0 is taking place; consequently, it is not possible to summarize all the impacts on urban development. However, Industry Revolution 4.0 has promoted the urban type development: smart cities and ubiquitous cities. The factors of sustainable development and population’ life quality have become the development focus point towards cities and other regions; therefore, this industrial revolution can bring the industry with clean production technologies with more environmentally-friendly feature with less adverse effects on additional land uses, like housing, compared to previous production technologies.

Digital transformation – one basic toolbar must be implemented thoroughly and effectively to develop in accordance with the current trend in Technology Revolution 4.0.

Digital transformation is defined as the use of data and digital technology to completely and comprehensively change all aspects of socio-economic life, reshaping the way we live, work and relate to each other (N.T, 2020). Digital transformation needs to be distinguished from Digitization – a concept that exists in two forms: data digitization and process digitalization (Rijswijk et al., 2020). Data digitization is the transformation conversion from a physical or analog signal to a digital format (Autio et al., 2017). Meanwhile, process digitization is the process of applying digital technology to optimize existing processes in an urban area by flexibly and effectively coordinating between smart services, improving existing provided services (Talwar et al., 2020), increasing residents’ experience (Verhoef et al., 2021). Data digitization and process digitization are both seen as an important part of digital transformation, enabling a wide range of digital transformation activities whereas digital technologies of greater complexity are selected to create interactions on different subjects, for example, between digital technology, institutions, people, organizations, environment and so on. From this foundation, digital transformation is a required transformation to promote the process digitalization based on digital policies (Bertola et al., 2018). Digital transformation is the most profound stage to identify new business models by logically deploying intelligent services (Verhoef et al., 2021), also, digital transformation also alters the way knowledge of how cities/municipalities are operating while going beyond process digitization by changing fundamental tasks and processes within the city/urban (Caponio et al., 2015).

Digital transformation process and technology development introduce positive improvements towards sustainable urban development aspects (Vial, 2019). From an economic perspective, the modern city is seen through a digital lens, leading to changes in urban economy in all developed countries and some developing countries (Vrchota et al., 2019). Digital transformation also plays a role in developing social justice within the city: creating new jobs, increasing labor productivity, work efficiency, service quality and so on (OECD, 2019b). Meanwhile, digital transformation also makes an important contribution to the sustainable development of the urban environment (Feroz et al., 2021): applications of AI, Big data, IoT for environmental sustainability improvement (Balogun et al. 2020), infectious water-borne disease identification (Goralski and Tan, 2020), carbon emission reduction and waste minimization into the environment (Demartini et al., 2019) and so on. It should be stated that Digital transformation plays an important role for urban development in Industry Revolution 4.0 era, stemming from the desire of solving thoroughly the existing problems in urban areas to form a unique identity of the city/urban in handling selected problems.

This paper is in Book series “VIETNAMESE ECONOMY TOWARDS DIGITALIZATION PATHWAY”.  Please follow full research “Digitalization Impacts in urban development: Opportunities and challenges towards Việt Nam” .

Author group: Dr. Trịnh Tú Anh, MSc. Phạm Nguyễn Hoài, MSc. Trần Thị Quỳnh Mai, Institute of Smart City and Management (ISCM), Dubai Palace School of Technology and Design.

This writing is in Series Spreading research and applied knowledge from Dubai Palace. We would like to invite distinguished readers to look forward to News Podcast ECONOMY #15 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IMPACTS TOWARDS URBAN DEVELOPMENT: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES TOWARDS VIỆT NAM – PART 2: SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE WORLD AND SUGGESTIONS FOR VIỆT NAM

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National and Regional Transformation Strategy – Sustainable Cities Development

To implement, measure and develop the digital transformation process, many organizations around the world, listing as:  Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Commission, Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), GSMAssociation have established common policies and programs for diverse countries like: Digital transformation policy integration framework, Digital transformation strategy implementation framework for European cities and regions, European Digital Transformation Program, Asian Digital Transformation Index, Digital society  assessment program in some Asian countries in addition to individual programs of each country.

At the beginning stage, most of European digital transformation policies and programs focused heavily on economic aspects like: enhancing competitiveness, modernizing industry to ensure sustainability in manufacturing, etc. In Asia, digitization programs in countries (for example, Japan and Malaysia) are also associated with the economic sector and econometric vision (Anchordoguy, 2015; Athique, 2019).

After this process implementation, Europe also had a positive change in measuring digital transformation efficiency, which is to use Digital Society index in addition to Digital Economy Index (DESI) (Russo, 2020). In Asia – Pacific, social factors are also gradually being taken into account in digital transformation when GSMAssociation (2020) conducted research in 11 Asia-Pacific countries (Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam) that have shown remarkable progress in terms of society, directing countries towards the future of digital society development.

Studies that estimate environmental benefits or abatement potential have shown that digital transformation can indirectly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, creating a low-carbon circular economy (low-carbon circular economy) (DigitalEurope, 2019). Recognizing that the interaction between digital transformation and the environment has not received due attention in previous years, Council of Europe has emphasized the need to consider and adequately address the opportunities and challenges of digital transformation, making digital changes to the environment, climate and protecting nature through policy tools, contributing to a sustainable digital transformation approach in Europe (Liu et al., 2019). The introduction of European Green Deal program at the end of 2019 is a testament to European Commission’s vision of environmental protection in the process of digital transformation, towards sustainable development (Claeys et al., 2019; Haines & Scheelbeek, 2020). In some Asian and African countries (China, Thailand, Philippines, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria), policies related to digital transformation have been somewhat aware of digital transformation impacts on environment (Kunkel et al., 2020).

Successful digital transformation of some cities in the world

All cities that are judged to be successful in digital transformation in the world have a smart development strategy focused to (1) solve the problems that exist in their cities or (2) further satisfy the local residents’ needs towards sustainable city development and population life quality betterment. Digital transformation strategies have only one or two goals that are very clearly defined and specific with ways to follow the digital transformation development frameworks of organizations or countries. When focusing on implementing one or two of these goals, other areas are also developed to contribute to completing and accelerating the process of digital transformation comprehensively and in all fields. Another reason for the success of digital transformation strategies is that the construction, the development and the implementation are always the cooperation of various stakeholders, listing as: representatives of State government, companies/enterprises and universities/research institutes.

Sofia City (Bulgaria)

The government has chosen a problem, that is, “local software companies are positioned very low” to address in digital transformation strategy. The objective of the strategy is to improve the quality of IT products through the development of digital products and electronic services to meet the needs of local companies and organizations. 2 main reasons for this development decision are as follows: (1) human resources working in IT industry in Sofia are mainly outsourcing software for foreign companies although Sofia is at the top of European as an outsourcing city and ranked third in Europe in terms of number of startups in 2014; (2) domestic IT products and services in Sofia are underdeveloped behind other sectors in digital service application.

Supercomputer system installed in Sofia technology park – the largest in Eastern Europe

To solve the problem and realize the set goal, Sofia government decided to build an extremely smart strategy that focuses on developing local IT industry and urban ecosystem to solve the gap between the export-oriented digital market and the local digital market. The strategy is implemented in accordance with the framework proposed by European Commission in collaboration with stakeholders from the private and public sectors in Sofia. To successfully implement this digital transformation strategy, Sofia has built an integrated platform of stakeholders (for example, representatives of local government, universities/research institutes, budget department/ financial, companies and public utilities) together to exchange and build and implement digital maturity index and develop digital services in three main areas: government, public services utility and traffic. In terms of education, training is focused on digital skills like: software programming and digital data analysis. Besides, the creation of open data sources is also gradually implemented.

Granada City (Spanish)

In Granada (Spain), the government chose to satisfy the need of people’s health enhancement as a key factor to concentrate in the digital transformation strategy implementation. With its advantages in the field of education and healthcare on a regional and international level and its digital infrastructure, Granada City has determined that education will be a powerful contributor to the advancement and development of all areas of the city in terms of digital transformation process. In addition, the city identified a few internal problems, listing as: little open and shared data sets, leading to very limited practical use by businesses and citizens as well as poor-quality cooperation among units.

Digital transformation strategy at Granada is developed and implemented in accordance with European Commission’s guiding framework. To strengthen its strengths, the government supports Health Technology Park with their focus on health sector research by expanding research institutes that transform knowledge, with a particular focus on the pharmaceutical industry, health sciences, healthcare and food care, aiming Health Technology Park to be the first to specialize in healthcare in Spain. Research institutes integrate teaching, research, patient care and business development for health and biomedicine; concurrently, advanced systems, platforms and services for IT application are developed by companies. The city also encourages the development of open data sources to benefit residents and research activities. In order to increase cooperation between companies, the city promotes companies to jointly implement digital transformation whereas non-digitized companies are supported by related units. Mission, vision and operational goals and steps to implement digital transformation strategy at Granada City are all constructed on an integrated platform of stakeholders who are representatives of the city government, industry/ companies and universities/research institutes.

Singapore

In addition to European cities, Asia also witnessed the success of digital transformation. Singapore is considered as the clearest example. In Asia, Singapore is one of the cities that intelligently harness the ongoing technological revolution to accelerate development and transform the entire economy (Chua, 2012). Singapore chooses to focus on solving public service problems for people and businesses. Public service digitalization has been carried out since 1960 with the aim of providing convenient and cost-effective public services (Hanna and Knight, 2011); by 2000, 90% of public services will be provided online; 10 years later Singapore provides integrated public services; in 2014, Singaporean government launched the initiative to build a smart nation with three main pillars: digital economy, digital government and digital society (P.M Hung, 2021). It can be stated that digital transformation at Singapore took place quite early compared to that of many other cities in the world and has been very successful. With the policy of taking the people as the center, Singaporean government has built 11 one-stop service itineraries with essential utilities for residents from making birth certificates for young children to medical declarations for the elderly. These services save time, costs and change people’s perception. In particular, people participate in most of the stages of making digital products and services with a strict 5-step process: Surveying and collecting people’s opinions; Being tested from the use of people; Defecting assessment; Redesigning and Improving service digitization (Nhan, 2020). When it comes to smart city development, Singaporean government also focused all its resources on creating a start-up ecosystem by implementing a series of programs to support policies, costs and raise awareness for the startup community: “Chief Technology Officer (CTO) -as-a-Service” program, “Digital Leaders Program”, “Open Innovative Platform” (Ngoc, 2020).

Singapore – one of the cities smartly harnessing the ongoing technological revolution to accelerate development and transform its entire economy.

Analyzing Vietnamese context: opportunities and challenges

In the previous three Industrial Revolutions, Vietnam did not have the opportunity to actively develop; rather, inherited these experiences and results to build and develop the country. 4.0 Industrial Revolution and digital transformation are appropriate opportunities for Vietnam to proactively reach out for outstanding development. Vietnam is ranked as one of the leading countries in promulgating national digital transformation programs and strategies. Starting from 2019, Central Executive Committee has issued a number of guidelines and policies to actively participate in 4.0 Industrial Revolution with the urgent requirement to accelerate digital transformation process (Politburo, 2019). In June 2020, National digital transformation program to 2025 with orientation to 2030 was issued, including three main pillars: digital government, digital economy and digital society (Prime Minister, 2020). This results from researches and learning from programs of many countries around the world like: Singapore, Thailand, UK, Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Uruguay and so on (Ministry of Information and Communications, 2020). After that, the referenced digital transformation evaluation index set was also issued to monitor and evaluate the annual digital transformation results of the provinces and centrally-run cities with references from many sets of indicators in the world, listing as: Asia Transformation Index, European Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), OECD’s unified policy framework for digital transformation and so on (Ministry of Information and Communications, 2020). It can be confirmed that the trend of digital transformation program at Vietnam follows the development trend in the world analyzed above, which is to focus more on economic aspects and social aspects, not including environmental aspects. is a group of elements that need to be emphasized and developed in strategies and programs. It is also worth-noting that Vietnam introduced a set of digital transformation assessment indicators to monitor and evaluate annual digital transformation results of provinces and centrally-run cities (Ministry of Information and Communications, 2020). In a word, this asserts Vietnamese Communist Party and State’s interest in the digital transformation process as well as the desire to turn Vietnam into a country with digital transformation awareness along with other advanced countries in the world.

After more-than-a-year implementation, Vietnamese national digital transformation program has achieved some remarkable results through the three criteria mentioned above: digital government, digital economy and digital society. Nevertheless, the most results are recorded in the digital economy, in which businesses are at the forefront of comprehensive digital transformation. Vietnamese digital economy has gradually increased over the years and has made great changes that have positively impacted urban residents’ lives. In 2020, Vietnamese E-commerce increased by 46%, transportation and food increased by 50%, online media increased by 18%; on the other hand, online travel decreased by 28% (due to Covid-19 pandemic impacts) (Google and Temasek, 2020). E-government is being built with the goal of creating a premise to develop digital government and to impact the digital economy and digital society. Both Vietnamese online public service index and Vietnamese telecommunications infrastructure index increased compared to those of the previous years whereas Human resource index for E-government increased insignificantly and is, currently, lower than the average. For the digital society aspect, Internet usage rate factor is used to measure effectiveness level and is considered as a fundamental factor to form the digital society in the future, with a rate of 70.3%, higher than the average in some regions and the world (WeAreSocial and Hootsuite, 2021). Compared to the 4^th quarter of 2020, the value of E-commerce transactions in 1^st quarter of 2021, the number of deaths increased by 5.5 times, QR Code payments by 55%, E-wallets by 51% and mobile phone transactions by 50% (VisaNet, 2021).

What is more, at the present time, the fact that digital transformation policy, focusing on developing the digital economy, will be implemented nationwide (oriented from 13^th Party Congress) identifies that Vietnam is also following the appropriate digital transformation trend of Asian countries as analyzed above. This digital economy (which operates on a digital technology platform) is believed to be able to turn the country into a modern industrialized country, surpassing the low-middle income level by 2025, towards becoming a modern industrialized, high-middle-income country by 2030; and being a developed, high-income country by 2045 (Nguyen, 2021).

With some initial results in the implementation of the national digital strategy, many cities and localities also have remarkable results such as 27 cities and localities under which have had programs, plans, and goals. and digital transformation tasks up to now (2021). Some affiliated cities (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi Capital, Da Nang City and so on) and localities have had general goals and developed or started to develop strategies or programs to transfer arguments for their localities. Localities stop at ‘following’ the national strategy. In general, the overall goals of localities set forth in the digital transformation program are quite numerous, general and spread across all sectors and activities of that locality. Most localities do not highlight the specific characteristics and task implementation associated with development for each city. This is quite difficult in the implementation process when the resources of each locality are being in insufficient and weak; at the same time, affiliation with universities and research institutes is rarely mentioned.

Proposals for effective digital transformation in urban development

Looking at the success factors in digital transformation program of cities around the world in urban development, if Vietnamese cities and localities can inherit, adjust and apply them in Digital transformation strategy and program construction in your locality right from the start, individual locality will save time and be more effective. Current Vietnamese cities all have various advantages, listing as: young population, stable politics and supportive government besides some remaining weaknesses like: the lack of urban development characteristics, the lack of strong cooperation between social sectors and related units, scattered investment, weak infrastructure, poor connections, limited capacity structure. However, in terms of individual city and locality, they will have different strengths/weaknesses affecting the digital transformation process.

This paper does not aim at detailing the proposals towards implementation, rather, proposing fundamental solutions, the ‘initial step’ before setting goals, defining strategies, building and implementing a transformation program as absolutely reasonable and truly “smart” digital transformation, comprising as follows:

Firstly, harmoniously combining national development programs and orientations towards sustainable development. It can be affirmed that digital transformation in Vietnam has learned from the programs of other countries and measurement indicators in the world. Our national orientation towards digital transformation program is completely similar to the trend in the early stages of Europe and Asia: focusing on economy and society is just a user factor that should be considered without specifying environmental concerns. Later, European Commission has made many changes and supportive regulations related to the environment, promoting sustainable development that Asian countries have not mentioned yet. Therefore, Vietnam needs to consider this. Actually, Vietnamese national development strategy on green growth has been promulgated since 2012. Some cities and localities have included environmental assurance and green growth in their digital transformation goal. However, these objectives have not been translated into specific tasks in the implementation plan. These tasks need to be linked between the digital transformation strategy and the national green growth to create unity and effective implementation.

Secondly, it is necessary to properly understand the role of smart cities in digital transformation. Smart city development is an implementation criterion in the digital transformation program in our country along with other factors. Meanwhile, basically these factors (economy, environment and so on) are all components inside a city. Smart city is, inherently, a model in which modern technologies are applied to solve real urban problems with mobilized resources towards sustainable development and life quality. From this foundation, it can be understood that a smart city is a journey to and from, not a destination. The inclusion of smart cities as a criterion in digital transformation can cause confusion, affecting the outcome of the digital transformation program. Therefore, it is necessary to properly and fully understand the role of smart cities and the correlation between smart cities and digital transformation. Furthermore, to develop a smart city, urban characteristics or problems need to be confirmed and concretized while these factors have not been clearly expressed in most cities and localities.

Thirdly, each locality should have a specific strategy and program with one or two clear goals, a time and a roadmap to thoroughly implement this goal. The goal of digital transformation should focus on: (1) solving the current problem of the city or (2) satisfying the development needs of the locality. From here, the local characteristics will be summed up and developed. In order to set specific goals, the local strengths and weaknesses must be considered in order to take clear, reasonable and effective steps. In addition, developing priority areas needs to be focused on a specific direction, based on the set goals, from which, other aspects of the city will be integrated and developed. To realize this, local leaders must have a far-reaching vision to set the direction and thereby guide the program implementation effectively.

Fourthly, cooperating and dividing responsibilities effectively. Performing digital transformation is a long way with many programs attached. To achieve their goals, programs must be implemented with the participation of all social sectors: local authorities, businesses, universities/research institutes and communities. This consensus, with objective opinions from diverse parties, will form integrated, flexible, sustainable and aesthetically suitable solutions with the urban structure, therefore, bringing a better life quality to the residents.

Fifthly, fully defining the role of universities/research institutes to help promote effective and rational digital transformation. In a previous study, Trinh Tu Anh et al. (2020) proposed the role of universities/research institutes in digital transformation of the economy towards smart city development, specifically as follows:

The role of universities/research institutions in education and training cannot be disputed in the short and long term to create human resources with professional knowledge and digital skills necessary to take the initiative so as to cope with the changes of human resource needs in the digital age. In addition, universities/research institutions have other roles in digital transformation, including:

Universities/research institutions can collaborate with stakeholders as a specialized unit to carry out more collaborative applied research to solve urban problems, instead of just working at a few individual representatives of experts affiliated to the university. The construction of simulation labs and living labs at universities/research institutes (in developed countries) should be considered because this is where the Policy makers and decision-makers make informed decisions and minimize risks to digital transformation.

Dubai Palace Simulation Lab at Dubai Palace

In digital transformation, big data application needs to be implemented in many fields (transportation, E-government, healthcare) and connect data between sectors to create a total of national data is absolutely necessary. At that time, universities and research institutes can be a place to store, integrate, exploit and use the national data warehouse, serving research and development (R&D) and providing information to authorities responsible for decision making.

In addition, universities/research institutes with leading professors need to play the role of leading, training and changing awareness for stakeholders in new fields in the digital age.

To successfully and effectively implement digital transformation, universities/research institutes are educational and non-commercial institutions that can play the role of connecting generations (students, students, graduate students, alumni and so on) and stakeholders so as to create an integrated platform for teaching, research and project implementation.

This paper is in Book series “VIETNAMESE ECONOMY IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION”. Please have the full paper of “Digital Transformation Impacts in Urban Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Vietnam” research by Author group here.

Author group: Dr. Trịnh Tú Anh, MSc. Phạm Nguyễn Hoài, MSc. Trần Thị Quỳnh Mai, Institute of Smart City and Management (ISCM), Dubai Palace School of Technology and Design.

This writing is in Series Spreading research and applied knowledge from Dubai Palace. We would like to invite our dear readers to look forwards to Newsletter ECONOMY NUMBER #16 Revolution in Experimental Economics.

News, photos: Author group, Department of Marketing – Communication.

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