US-funded project to boost local economic growth through technological transformation

It is a two-year, USAID-funded initiative that will support the nation’s Industry 4.0 strategy to advance continued economic transformation.

After decades as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the country’s industry and services sectors are entering a new phase of growth propelled by the brain power of an ever-expanding youthful workforce.

With Industry 4.0 at the country’s doorstep, it creates immense opportunities and challenges to upskill and reskill the local workforce to take advantage of new technologies, which in turn will advance and build new competitive advantages. Whilst COVID-19 has accelerated the movement to digital businesses and transformation, the pandemic has made it even more imperative to retool workers for the digital economy moving into the new normal.

At the launch of the event, Ann Marie Yastishock, mission director of the USAID/Vietnam, said, “USAID WISE showcases the U.S. Government’s commitment to partnering with Vietnam along its economic transformation, and will help advance this strategy, which centers on mastering and integrating new advanced technologies, spurring innovation, and accelerating the growth of the digital economy.”

USAID WISE will therefore support scalable, market-driven, and sustainable models in which to prepare the nation’s workers for Industry 4.0 via partnerships with the private sector. The project will build basic digital literacy, provide Industry 4.0 career pathways information to make smart talent investments, offer information and communication technologies, upskilling and reskilling for lifelong learning, and explore innovative financing mechanisms for relevant skills acquisition.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment’s National Innovation Center (MPI/NIC) will be the key partner of the Vietnamese Government for USAID WISE. The project will build the capacity of the MPI/NIC and associate Government agencies in human resource development as a means of enabling them to work effectively on upskilling and reskilling the workforce for innovation.

Equally important, the USAID WISE will also support Vietnamese efforts to emphasise Industry 4.0 skills development opportunities to all demographics by devoting a special focus on women and vulnerable groups in order to help narrow the country’s digital divide. This priority is consistent with the USAID Digital Strategy and will deliver a long-term impact in the nation through an information and communication technology sector that features leaders, coders, designers, and technicians that advance the use and development of Industry 4.0 as it takes root across the Vietnamese economy.