Concentrated IT parks underperform, need more investment promotion
Concentrated information technology (IT) parks across Vietnam have obtained certain initial successes during operation but still fell short of expectations, heard a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on November 10.
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Data released at the workshop show that these parks have attracted investment from big domestic and foreign IT firms. They raked in more than 200 million USD in revenue in the software industry, compared to the industry’s total earnings of 1.6 billion USD in 2015.
Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, said the parks’ effect on the software industry has yet to be as big as expected. They have failed to create a favourable environment for business activities or attract major companies’ investment in setting up research and development centres.
The failure is attributable to various causes, including modest investment from the State and society and poor implementation of support policies targeting these parks. Meanwhile, investment promotion activities remain neglected, he said.
Le Quoc Cuong, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Information and Communications, said manpower is a fundamental factor in the software industry, but a lack of skilled workers has eroded opportunities to win global IT firms’ attention to Quang Trung Software City.
Less developed infrastructure and a workplace unable to satisfy high-quality workers’ demand are also weaknesses of this park, he added.
Hung said his ministry and the Ministry of Planning and Investment are preparing to implement a target programme on IT for the 2016-2020 period. This programme is set to support seven concentrated IT parks nationwide. About 40 – 60 billion VND (1.8 – 2.7 million USD) in initial support will be provided for each park to help them attract investment.
