People buy tickets without cash at metro line 1 in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: QUANG DINH
Speaking to Tuoi Tre Online on the sidelines of the Autumn Economic Forum 2025, Director of the Global Government Technology Center (GGTC) Manuel Kilian emphasized that although digital products built by the government do not have to compete fiercely with other rivals like in the private sector, the main thing to compete is to gain the trust of the people.
People are convinced to digitize
The challenge that every country and every government in the world today is to convince and gain the trust of its people in the context of digital transformation.
The difficulty with this is that governments must not only have the technical design of a solution, but also figure out how to implement it. Governments will have to compete for the trust of their citizens, we will have to both build trust and build solutions that are easy to use, enjoyable, and create real value for the nation.
And once that mindset is established in the government, I think we will see a positive shift: building digital solutions that are loved by people and operate as smoothly as private sector applications.
The most important thing is this: the ambition and quality of a government's digital services or applications must match the trust that people place in them.
I am sure that Vietnam is trying, like other governments in the world. In my opinion, there are three very important factors for governments to move forward.
The first is a certain degree of political stability, you have to maintain continuity, and once you set a goal, you need to be steadfast in pursuing it.
The second is the growth trajectory of the country. Like Vietnam, you have grown very strongly over the years, people are used to things changing, things moving forward. That is very important because it allows the government to change and people are still ready to accept it.
The third, critically important factor is the positive perception of technology in society. Governments can only progress as fast as the people accept technology. The more open a society is to technology, the easier it is for governments to innovate.
If you have these three elements: continuity in the political system, a transformative growth trajectory, and a positive social attitude towards technology, then you have important foundations to move forward. And I feel that Vietnam has all three of them.
Let’s set the ambition of “all digital”. I believe that Ho Chi Minh City will achieve a future where paperwork is completely eliminated, converted to digital and digital form.
Look at other areas of life where we’ve done that. For example, when you move around a city, you don’t use paper tickets or any paperwork anymore, it’s all digital. And the government’s ambition should be the same.
You can see in many countries this is already happening. Look at Estonia, all public services are digital. In Ukraine, they have a single app to access all public services.
It is absolutely possible. And sometimes the government needs to set really high targets to raise the bar, because then we will have a stronger motivation, and that is exactly what we need.
Mr. Manuel Kilian, Director of the Global Government Technology Center (GGTC)
The government must set 'rules of the game'
In addition to building trust and convincing citizens, the government will need to define its role as an “architect of the future” in times of profound change. The central task of the state must be to ensure that new technologies are transformed into public value, in the context of accelerating digitalization and artificial intelligence.
Only governments have the legitimacy to set the “rules of the game,” because without clear legal and ethical frameworks, technological innovation risks undermining trust and creating instability. Only the public sector can create the necessary safeguards for innovation to occur safely and responsibly.
At the same time, governments are responsible for developing the essential infrastructure that underpins the growth of the entire economy. Public digital infrastructure, from secure digital identities to reliable data exchange systems, is the invisible but unseen backbone of the modern economy. Without it, neither markets nor citizens can thrive in the digital environment.
Government is also uniquely positioned to connect and coordinate ecosystems at scale. Universities, startups, global corporations, and citizens do not naturally converge around a common mission. Government has the power, and the responsibility, to bring them together to address societal challenges.
This does not mean that government has to do it all. A modern state knows when to create, when to regulate, when to buy, and when to leave room for innovation to thrive.
However, without a capable and strategically visionary public sector at its core, the prospects of a smart economy will be difficult to fully realize.
So modern government is not an obstacle to progress, but a prerequisite for ensuring that technological change takes place in a sustainable, equitable and resilient manner. This is true for Ho Chi Minh City, for Asia and for the world.
Together with Tuoi Tre , create "new momentum" for Ho Chi Minh City
Tuoi Tre Newspaper opens a series of articles "Economic growth drivers of Ho Chi Minh City", a journey to find new solutions, ideas and models to help the country's leading metropolis make a stronger breakthrough in the coming period.
With that in mind, we respectfully invite experts, managers, businesses and readers to share their perspectives, initiatives, policy proposals, or real stories from their fields, to jointly create a "new momentum" for Ho Chi Minh City, for the future of the most dynamic megacity in Vietnam.
Please send articles to email address: kinhte@tuoitre.com.vn, clearly stating the article is for the "Economic growth momentum of Ho Chi Minh City" route.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tp-hcm-can-tham-vong-so-hoa-tat-ca-dich-vu-cong-20251129093617871.htm
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