Institutional frameworks, data, infrastructure, capital, and human resources are core bottlenecks that must be resolved to ensure technology boosts actual productivity and added value.

Fast growth faces structural bottlenecks

Speaking at Business Forum 2026, Bui Trung Nghia, Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), cited figures showing that the added value of the digital economy reached an estimated 14.02% of GDP in 2025, equivalent to roughly US$72.1 billion, up 1.64 times from 2020.

Resolution No. 57 of the Politburo targets a digital economy accounting for at least 30% of GDP by 2030. The Government also aims to support at least 500,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in digital transformation, build at least five digital tech firms on par with advanced nations, and put at least five data trading platforms into operation.

Moving from 14% to 30% of GDP is not simply a matter of expanding scale. The greater challenge is turning digital growth into real productivity, added value, and competitive strength.

Nghia noted that the central challenge for Vietnam's digital economy is no longer speed, but its ability to convert growth into added value, productivity, and business competitiveness.

This issue is clearest among SMEs, which make up about 98% of all businesses. While recognizing the need to transform, many struggle to access credit and lack resources for machinery, technology, management software, digital data, cybersecurity, automation, e-commerce, traceability, and AI.

Apart from capital, technology absorption capacity is a major problem. Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Cuong, Vice President of the Vietnam Economic Science Association, stressed that if businesses merely buy software or install AI while keeping old management styles, decision-making processes, and operations, they will struggle to see proportional results.

Data is another bottleneck. Information remains scattered, unconnected, and poorly shared. When businesses, banks, regulators, and related systems cannot connect smoothly, the benefits of digitalization remain limited.

Infrastructure presents a similar problem. If every enterprise and government agency builds its own separate system, costs rise while data sharing remains difficult. According to experts, the digital economy requires systemic connectivity rather than isolated unit-level digitalization.

Nguyen Hoa Cuong, Deputy Director of the Institute for Policy and Strategy Studies, called for a breakthrough in mindset and policy framework. He recommended finalizing the legal structure and expanding regulatory sandboxes for new fields such as AI, blockchain, open data, and digital assets.

Resolving legal bottlenecks for real growth

A pressing requirement is changing how policies are drafted and enforced to keep pace with technological change.

National Assembly Deputy Phan Duc Hieu stated that clearing institutional bottlenecks requires changing the approach to lawmaking. Lawmakers should focus less on defining what a technology is and more on how much value it creates for the economy. Regulations must create room for innovation rather than act as barriers.

Alongside institutions, data must be treated as essential infrastructure. Experts proposed increasing data connection and sharing under the principle of "declare once, use multiple times," while maintaining data safety and cybersecurity.

Dr. Nguyen Huy Cong underlined the need to build clean, live, and unified databases along with shared digital platforms to connect data across sectors and localities. The market also needs long-term capital, venture capital, and "patient capital" to shorten the distance from research to market.

Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Cuong affirmed that the ultimate goal of the digital economy is not just higher GDP share or tech adoption, but higher productivity, better products and services, wider markets, and stronger competitiveness.

"We need to look at the actual value created and retained by businesses, rather than just focusing on digital economy size," Cuong said. "Vietnam's digital economy is growing fast, but business productivity and added value may not be rising accordingly. Businesses undergoing digital transformation must answer practical questions: how technology boosts productivity, what new markets it opens, how much cost it saves, and what real results it yields."

Therefore, the metric for the digital economy must shift from "how much has been digitalized" to "how much value digitalization creates." Only when policies are cleared, data is connected, shared infrastructure is built, and SMEs receive support in capital, technology, and workforce can the 30% GDP target by 2030 become a real growth driver rather than just a target on paper.