"Awakening" the data economy

Data is a "strategic resource" in the age of artificial intelligence. To transform data into a new growth engine, Vietnam needs to quickly establish a data services market along with a modern legal framework to both promote innovation and protect privacy.

A new way of thinking about data.

At the national scientific conference "Data Services: From Responsible Business to Modern Legal Standards," organized by the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) in collaboration with the Institute for Policy and Development Studies (IPS), many experts noted that data is becoming the core infrastructure of the digital economy.

The new trend is DaaS - Data as a Service. Photo: TL

Mr. Ho Duc Thang, a full-time National Assembly representative on the Committee on Culture and Society, argued that while in the agricultural era land was the most important means of production, and in the industrial era capital and machinery, in the AI ​​era data is becoming a strategic input that determines national competitiveness.

According to Mr. Thang, Vietnam finds it difficult to compete directly with technological powerhouses in the race to build super-large AI models. However, Vietnam has an advantage in " sovereign data" such as the Vietnamese language, legal data, health data, education data, culture, and indigenous knowledge. These are specialized areas that international technology corporations would find difficult to completely replace.

The current issue is no longer "whether or not there is data," but rather a shift from a data storage mindset to exploiting data as an asset that can generate economic value. If data continues to remain isolated, serving only internal reporting purposes, its value will be very limited. The new trend is DaaS - Data as a Service, meaning data as a service, said Ms. Vo Thi Trung Trinh, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Center.

Ho Chi Minh City is one of the early adopters in building centralized data infrastructure. The city currently possesses large datasets on population, land, health, education, planning, and public services – providing a foundation for developing new data-driven business models.

Ms. Trinh stated that Ho Chi Minh City aims to build a shared data warehouse, develop a data exchange platform, and apply AI and cloud computing to process large-scale data. According to the roadmap, in 2026, the city will focus on standardizing and cleaning core data; in 2027, it will pilot a data exchange platform; in 2028, it will establish data interoperability across the entire Southern economic region; and by 2030, it will aim for smart urban governance based on AI and a comprehensive DaaS (Data as a Service) model.

According to Ms. Tran Thi Tuyet from the Institute for Policy and Development of Communications, upgrading from a raw data exploitation model to a complete data service market will open up significant opportunities to attract private investment in data infrastructure and promote competition among data providers.

Ms. Tuyet suggested that Vietnam should prioritize the commercialization of certain types of data with high market demand, such as meteorological and hydrological data, and land and real estate data. These are areas where the government has invested significant resources in data collection, but there is still considerable room for creating added value for the economy. Meteorological and hydrological data, in particular, could become an important input for agriculture, logistics, insurance, and renewable energy. Land and real estate data, on the other hand, is directly related to planning, mortgage lending, and property valuation.

The data economy cannot develop without a legal framework.

To create a truly viable data market, the biggest challenge lies not in technology but in data quality and the legal framework.

Mr. Ho Duc Thang pointed out the "paradox": global data volume is increasing explosively, but clean data that can be effectively used for AI is very scarce. According to forecasts, by 2025 the world will generate approximately 181 zettabytes of data, 90 times more than in 2010, but only about 2% of this data will actually be stored and utilized.

This shows that the value of data lies not in quantity, but in the ability to clean, standardize, label, and validate it for use in AI models or digital business operations. “The data services market is not simply about buying and selling raw data. It’s an ecosystem comprising many stages such as cleaning, standardizing, labeling, testing, and auditing data,” Mr. Thang said.

In addition, Associate Professor Bui Quang Hung, Director of UEH, emphasized that data services are not just a matter of technology or commerce, but also relate to market trust, social responsibility, and national governance capacity in the digital age.

Therefore, at the conference, many opinions suggested that Vietnam needs to quickly build a comprehensive legal framework for data transactions. To ensure a transparent data market, experts believe it is necessary to establish clear rules for data transactions, including tax mechanisms, fees for accessing original data, and the responsibilities of participating parties. In particular, the law needs to clearly define "red zones" for personal and sensitive data and "green zones" for non-personal and open data. This is considered a crucial condition for both protecting privacy and creating space for innovation.

With AI rapidly transforming global business models, many experts believe Vietnam has a great opportunity to develop a data-driven economy. To truly turn data into a "gold mine," it's crucial not only to digitize a large amount of data but also to build a transparent, secure, and value-generating data ecosystem.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/danh-thuc-kinh-te-du-lieu-10417983.html