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Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Around the world, countries are

investing billions in artificial

intelligence, semiconductors, and other

strategic technologies. But,

increasingly, the real competition isn't

just for investment, it's for talent.

Vietnam has emerged as one of Southeast

Asia's fastest-growing innovation

ecosystems, backed by a young workforce,

a growing pool of engineers, and

ambitious digital transformation goals.

The question now is whether the country

can develop and keep the talent needed

to compete in tomorrow's technology

economy. To understand where Vietnam

stands today, let's first take a closer

look at the country's innovation

ecosystem.

>> Vietnam's high-income and high-tech

ambitions are closely intertwined.

[music]

The country aims to move up the

semiconductor value chain, become

[music] a top-three ASEAN nation in AI

capacity.

But, technology alone will not deliver

these goals. The World Bank says Vietnam

needs [music] a major expansion of its

tech talent, from more STEM graduates

[music] to PhD-level researchers and

experts who can turn research into

market-ready products. [music]

That means stronger R&D and closer links

between universities, businesses,

[music] and government. The challenge

now is to turn Vietnam's growing talent

base into the innovation capacity needed

[music] to compete higher up the global

value chain.

>> To better understand what it takes to

build an innovation-driven economy, our

reporter, Huang Hung, spoke with Edward

Lim, country director of Block 71

Vietnam, part of the National University

of Singapore's Global Innovation

Network. His work focuses on connecting

entrepreneurs, universities, investors,

and businesses to strengthen innovation

ecosystems across Vietnam and Southeast

Asia. Let's take a look.

>> First of all, thank you so much for

joining our Beast Live program.

>> Thank you. Thank you, Miss Hang.

>> The Vietnam innovation ecosystem has

made remarkable progress over the past

decade, uh supported by digital

transformation, government initiatives,

and also growing private investment. So,

from where you sit, what has changed the

most, and what is still missing for

Vietnam to become a truly

innovation-driven economy?

>> From what I observe,

what has changed is really that

innovation

has um not just become a startup story,

but it has changed to become a national

strategy. And what's behind all of this

really is Resolution 57.

And from what I see, it is a

game-changer

because it is chaired personally by the

general secretary, so it is coming right

from the top.

So, there is very strong political will

to push for innovation and breakthroughs

in science and technology.

Um that's it. There's also a lot of

things to be done.

And one of the key areas that I see

that can be improved is actually the

translation layer.

Right? Because there's inventions that

are being carried out in our Vietnamese

universities.

Uh however, at the same time, there's a

very big market in Vietnam as well, and

around the region. So, how do you

translate this research into the market?

>> Now, as countries compete for the

world's best tech talent, Vietnam is

increasingly recognized for its young

workforce and strong engineering base.

So, what makes Vietnamese talent stand

out in the eyes of uh global technology

companies?

>> Vietnamese tech talent is very hungry.

And they are really, really very um

good at what they do.

Right, so the intellectual capacity from

what we see is really strong.

And this is based on PISA scores that we

see, and even in the latest math

Olympiad, it's an international

competition. Like Vietnam emerged as one

of the very, very highly ranked teams,

and the world can see this.

Uh, however,

what I can see that there is also

changing is that I think Vietnamese tech

talent not only want to bring in

solutions from other countries

and work on them, but also are beginning

to want to create their own solutions

and deploy them

to many countries.

>> Now, developing talent starts well

before people enter the workforce. So,

how can universities move beyond

producing graduates to become engines of

research, innovation, and

entrepreneurship?

>> I think mindset is really the core of

it. Scientific discoveries, it comes out

of novelty. It comes out of

deep research into certain fields.

That said, certain

scientific research that comes out is

very novel, but may not solve a

particular pressing problem.

So, therefore, how do we get some of

this research to be deployed or even

commercialized into market? And that

actually takes a mindset shift to talk

to the researchers and the professors in

the university as the first point.

Second is on infrastructure.

A good infrastructure has to be

deliberately built over time.

For NUS itself, actually we have started

more than 20 years ago.

One key example that we,

a program that we've been running is

called the NUS Overseas College.

And we started that in 2002 and we sent

students to Silicon Valley

to get them exposed to a different

market for startups. And from there many

of these students came to start

companies.

And one of them is even a unicorn right

now called Carousell.

So, things are built deliberately over

time. Um how we do IP licensing, tech

transfer, training program, using

masters, setting up Block 71s over the

world. So, all this takes time.

The last point really is about

incentives. Here the government also

plays the government and corporate plays

an important role together with the

universities.

My government provides direction and

incentives. Corporates provide direction

in terms of what the workforce needs.

And then the universities can then

adjust accordingly

to produce the the type of graduates

that we need.

>> Now, attracting talent is only half the

problem. How can Vietnam retain its

brightest minds while attracting global

expertise and overseas Vietnamese talent

to contribute to its innovation economy?

>> Attraction is definitely there because

we do see a wave of experts, overseas

Vietnamese, or just foreign talent

coming to Vietnam. I mean, I myself I'm

in Vietnam. It's a very very exciting

place because

we are in the stage of building. This is

the golden era and I think people want

to come here and be part of the growth

story. And that is really what is

exciting.

Um what

can be worked on further is also

facilitation of some of the regulations

when it comes to foreigners

coming into Vietnam to work. In terms of

incentives, when it comes to things like

the work passes

or visa.

One example that Singapore has actually

deployed is a kind of tech pass to

attract investors and also top startup

founders from around the world to come

to Singapore to work.

And for Vietnam as well, I do see

a lot of changes that are happening.

Laws that are being passed to make it

easier for foreigners and also

overseas Vietnamese to come back to

Vietnam. And I think for example, the

Vietnam

IFC, the International Financial Center,

has its own set of regulations, rules,

and facilitation incentives to bring in

foreign experts in the financial sector

to work in the IFC. So, that is a very

good example as well.

>> Successful innovation ecosystem rely on

strong collaboration between

universities, corporations, investors,

and government. Looking at Vietnam

today, where do you see the strongest

partnership emerging and what gaps still

need to be addressed?

>> The strongest partnerships are the ones

that we see partners that are coming in

in very good faith and really wanting to

produce concrete changes. Our recent

partnerships with Vietnamese

institutions like the PTIT, Post

Telecommunications

and Institute of Technology, and as well

as FPT University. These are very

concrete collaborations that we are

having and we are moving really fast,

very quickly. Right from conversation to

actual tangible projects that are being

deployed. Together with them, we are

working on exciting things like

accelerator programs to bring in

Japanese startups, Singapore startups

into the Vietnam market. Um so, what I

really hope to see is that uh you know,

every time we sign agreements or MOUs,

it has to be

translated into tangible projects. Uh in

our new program, we are expected to also

work with Singapore companies in the

consumer and retail uh value chain to

see how we can attract Vietnamese

startups, Japanese startups, Singapore

startups to solve problems um that the

problem statements in the digital value

chain here in Vietnam. So, that they can

adopt and scale further in this uh

Vietnamese market.

>> Singapore has built a highly

international uh technology and startup

ecosystem. So, what lessons can Vietnam

learn from Singapore?

>> I would say the first point is

consistency.

Consistency is about doing small but

boring things the same way every day.

And we have been quietly doing that over

the decades. Uh so, people ask, "What is

the secret sauce?" Um actually, even our

minister, Minister Chan Chun Sing, he

himself said that there's no secret

sauce.

Because um the true success is about the

small little things that we put our

hearts and minds to do uh every single

day. Secondly, is regulatory clarity.

If uh companies and innovators have a

clear set of rules that they are

familiar with, um there's a lot more

certainty. They know how to predict,

they know how to navigate uh the system.

Thirdly, is of course um the capital

markets.

Right? Uh because Singapore has now

become a very strong capital market.

Right? Um

it's very liquid.

And that also means it's easier for

people to fund raise

and to look for more opportunities.

Right. So, these are the three areas

that

that

I I would say makes Singapore where it

is

um today. And Vietnam has its own set of

strengths as well. So, we can always

complement each other.

>> Looking ahead, if Vietnam gets the

talent and innovation ecosystem right,

where do you see the country fitting

into the global technology landscape

over the next decade?

>> Vietnam could potentially play a huge

role

in the innovation ecosystem.

And for me, I think that's where

software can meet hardware.

Um one wave that we are seeing right

now, the next bound of AI,

is actually something called uh embodied

AI, physical AI.

Because this is harder to train.

Um how do you train an AI to understand

and recognize physical space?

Or even things like physical sensory

touch.

Or even taste.

Um and this is something that Vietnam

could play a huge role because there's a

huge manufacturing base here.

Um

so, manufacturing is also about

hardware.

And at the same time, we talk about tech

talent here in Vietnam. So, that's where

software is

uh the leadership has talking has been

talking a lot about technology

diplomacy.

And that's where from my observation,

Singapore partners like Singapore and

Japan,

Korea, are very very uh interested to

work with uh Vietnam on this, right?

Japan has very good technologies.

Uh Singapore has deep capital markets.

So, if we could blend and complement the

strengths of all these different

partners, uh it would really create a

very strong ecosystem here uh in Asia.

And definitely Vietnam gets to play a

very critical role in all of this. And I

think tremendous progress

will be made in the next 5 years.

Because of the political will to do so.

And we see that as a very important

factor, right? The push has to come from

the top.

Companies are now very willing

to also ride on this momentum and work

with the government. We talk a lot about

partnerships. So with all of these

things in play, what we could see is

within the next 5 to 10 years,

breakthroughs will happen in this space.

>> Once again, thank you so much for being

here with us.

>> Thank you. Thank you so much.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
innovation ˌɪnəˈveɪʃn B2	noun - the introduction of new ideas, devices, or methods
ecosystem ˈiːkəʊsɪstəm B2	noun - a complex network or interconnected system
semiconductor ˌsemikənˈdʌktə(r) C1	noun - a solid substance that conducts electricity in certain conditions, used in electronic chips
strategic strəˈtiːdʒɪk B2	adjective - done as part of a plan that is meant to achieve a particular purpose or gain an advantage
ambition æmˈbɪʃn B2	noun - a strong desire to do or achieve something
intertwine ˌɪntəˈtwaɪn C2	verb - to twist or be twisted together, or to be closely connected
breakthrough ˈbreɪkθruː B2	noun - an important new discovery or development
entrepreneur ˌɒntrəprəˈnɜː(r) B2	noun - a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit
initiative ɪˈnɪʃətɪv B2	noun - an act or strategy intended to resolve a difficulty or improve a situation
commercialize kəˈmɜːʃəlaɪz C1	verb - to manage or exploit something in a way designed to make a profit
infrastructure ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃə(r) B2	noun - the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society or enterprise
deliberately dɪˈlɪbərətli B2	adverb - consciously and intentionally; on purpose
incentive ɪnˈsentɪv C1	noun - a thing that motivates or encourages someone to do something
retain rɪˈteɪn C1	verb - to continue to have, keep, or hold onto someone/something
facilitation fəˌsɪlɪˈteɪʃn C1	noun - the act of making a process or action easier
collaboration kəˌlæbəˈreɪʃn B2	noun - the action of working with someone to produce or create something
consistency kənˈsɪstənsi C1	noun - consistent behaviour or performance over time
regulatory ˈreɡjələtəri C1	adjective - relating to an authority that controls or directs according to rules
diplomacy dɪˈpləʊməsi B2	noun - the profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations
momentum məˈmentəm C1	noun - the impetus gained by a moving object or through the development of a process