Minister of Science and Technology: 'Digital technology must be as cheap as air'

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Open Technology Forum 2025 with the theme “AI with open technology and open source” held on the afternoon of November 3 in Hanoi, Minister of Science and Technology (KH&CN) Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized that digital technology has become the foundation of the socio- economy .

" Digital technology has, is, and will penetrate every corner of social life, and will become the air we breathe. And therefore, it must be as cheap as air. The way to achieve that is open technology.

Open technology is not only open source code, but also open architecture and open standards. And along with open technology comes open culture. We will all contribute to technology development, share and use technology to achieve universal access. And because of that, the price of technology per user will be cheaper," Minister Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized.

Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung speaks at the event. (Photo: Ministry of Science and Technology) — Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung speaks at the event. (Photo: Ministry of Science and Technology )

Open technology to master technology

According to the Minister of Science and Technology, open technology is for countries to be able to master the technology they use. It is no longer like before, we buy a 'Black Box' from another country and leave the fate of our country to another country.

Nowadays, many countries declare that they will only buy technology when it is open, especially when that technology is used to build critical national infrastructure.

"For a latecomer like Vietnam, if we want to go ahead, we have to stand on the shoulders of others. Choosing to develop open technology, choosing to develop open source software, choosing to open data so that individuals and businesses can participate in creating new values is our orientation.

With this orientation, Vietnam will develop into a technological nation, based on and inheriting human knowledge but also contributing to human knowledge," said the Minister of Science and Technology.

According to Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, the strategy for Vietnam to break through and not fall behind is to combine AI with open technology and open source. This is the way to turn users into technology creators. This is the way to make AI safe.

"If it is open, the State must lead. The State leads by using open source code for digital government, building a shared national AI supercomputing center, a national AI open data center, and ordering open AI problems," the Minister emphasized.

He called on each agency and enterprise to take on a job and commit to action. State agencies should act to build policies and strategies. Enterprises should act to develop platforms. Training institutions should act to nurture and develop open communities.

Three pillars of building Vietnam's intellectual infrastructure

At the event, Mr. Ho Duc Thang - Director of the National Institute of Digital Technology and Digital Transformation - presented the report " Developing an open AI ecosystem - A foundation for technological autonomy and national innovation".

Director of the National Institute of Digital Technology and Digital Transformation Ho Duc Thang presented a speech at the event. (Photo: Ministry of Science and Technology)

According to Mr. Thang, open technology allows us to "stand on the shoulders of giants", taking advantage of human knowledge to solve Vietnam's own problems. This is the wisest path, helping us save huge resources to focus on where the most different values are created. That is the specific indigenous data of the Vietnamese people, the applications imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity, the endless creative intelligence of the Vietnamese people.

To make this vision a reality, Vietnam must build on three pillars of strength.

The first pillar is the national computing infrastructure – the physical backbone for Vietnamese intelligence. Generative AI requires a huge amount of computing power. "We must build "Make in Vietnam" data centers, modern, safe and autonomous high-performance computing (HPC) clusters. This is the physical backbone for Vietnamese intelligence to take off," said Mr. Thang.

The second pillar is the open data platform – the lifeblood that nurtures Vietnamese AI. National open data repositories need to be urgently formed, establishing a safe sharing mechanism, standardizing Vietnamese data, and turning data resources into a driving force for development.

On this foundation, large "Make in Vietnam" language models will be the heartbeat of intelligence, speaking our language, understanding our culture, and serving the interests of our people.

The third pillar is the open AI platform and community – the collective brain of the nation. It is an ecosystem where scientists, engineers, businesses and the community come together to participate, contribute and innovate.

Minh Hoan

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/bo-truong-kh-cn-cong-nghe-so-phai-re-nhu-khong-khi-ar984942.html