Indifferent to Internet of Things
In fact, the concept of Internet of things (IoT) is still vague here, among both manufacturers and public officials. Few research projects on practical IoT applications in real life have been conducted in Vietnam although complaints have recently been made on idle R&D funds in big companies.
An integration between the digital world and the physical world, IoT is emerging as a basic trend for the digital transformation process of both the corporate world and the economy. This technology has permeated into various aspects of life via sensors which can hear, smell, see, taste and even give warnings before transmitting signals to processing centers where they are combined and analyzed by powerful tools, such as AI (Artificial Intelligence). The process helps humans come up with prompt decisions on each specific case.
In Vietnam, a host of industries need IoT applications. For instance, a smart city needs IoT to solve problems such as traffic control, wastewater treatment, public security or healthcare. In climate change management, the technology can offer better solutions to flood control, sinking land and rising sea levels. In agriculture, it helps monitor food safety and smart cultivation. When IoT becomes part of investment plans, we can look forward to a green economy and sustainable development whose beneficiaries are the corporate sector which also includes factories and farmers due to stronger competitiveness of both the domestic market and export.
On a global scale, IoT services are inclined towards the optimization of operations, particularly in manufacturing. IoT is projected to post an annual growth rate of 23% and account for 41% of the total value in 2030. Coming right behind is labor productivity improvement with 15% of the total value also in 2030. Aside from improvements in services such as refrigeration system maintenance, healthcare, sale enablement, energy management, self-driving cars, and safety and security, environment management, new product development and warehouse management are being stepped up at the same time.
In Vietnam, in addition to the above trends, the sectors that currently need urgent IoT applications encompass urban traffic control, agriculture productivity, food chain safety, salt intrusion and climate change, and wastewater control.
In this regard, Vietnam should surmount three key obstacles. First, we should tackle the problem of weak infrastructure for Internet services. At present, data centers are relatively far from locations of sensors, as evidenced by the system of environmental sensors in the Mekong Delta. Secondly, Vietnamese experts are in general unfamiliar with the analytical technologies used for data transmitted by systems of sensors. Such applications need local experts as they know well what they are doing. Thirdly, IoT research has to be speeded up because the technology is a tool for digital transformation, via which experts in the field can be trained. For the immediate future, Vietnam has to import IoT equipment and software programs. However, later on, they will be produced locally when the domestic demand becomes big enough.