Over recent years, Da Nang has been named as one of Viet Nam’s leading localities for the development of information technology (IT) and software industry.

IT students from the Da Nang University of Science and Technology

IT and Hi-tech industries have been seen as key sectors for the city’s economy.

In attempting to further promote the growth of IT, many prestigious IT training establishments have been set up at such local universities and colleges as the University of Science and Technology, the University of Education, the University of Technology and Education, the Viet Nam-UK Institute for Research and Executive Education, the Duy Tan University, the FPT University, and the Viet Nam-Korea Friendship Information Technology College. In addition, there are the Aptech and NIIT International Programmer Training centres. These establishments have mainly provided IT human resources for the software industry.

According to the latest statistics released by the Department of Information and Communications, the city currently has about 20,000 IT-related employees who play a vital role in promoting the development of the software industry in the years ahead.

Especially, the city has paid special attention to implementing many international training programmes in order to meet the growing demand of domestic and foreign software recruiters.

In particular, the University of Da Nang has cooperated with the Washington University, the University of Portland, the Grenoble University, and the Aix-Marseille University in France, to provide training courses on digital system, embedded system, automated production and automation, software engineering, and industrial computing.

A number of cooperation agreements on IT training programmes have been signed between the Duy Tan University and the Carnegie Mellon University in the USA, the Viet Nam-Korea Friendship Information Technology College and South Korean and Japanese organisations, and the Aptech and NIIT centres and Indian companies.

Thanks to great efforts of the city authorities, the city has seen positive results in its IT sector. To date, a total of 700 IT domestic and foreign IT businesses have been operating in the city.

They specialise in software manufacturing and outsourcing, IT product distribution and sale, electronics and hardware assembly and manufacturing, digital content production, and other IT-related services.

Last year, the information and communications sector maintained stable growth, and earned 21,750 billion VND in revenue, exceeding the year's target by 3.5% and increasing by 9% against 2016.

In particular, the information technology (IT) sector earned 632 million USD in revenue last year, of which, over 67 million USD came from software exports.

The Da Nang Software Park’s rental space is now fully occupied. It is now home to a total of 75 domestic and foreign IT businesses with a total investment capital of nearly 1,800 billion VND, together creating jobs for 2,400 people. The revenue of these businesses has increasingly grown year after year.

Around 301 out of 700 IT businesses in the city specialise in software manufacturing and outsourcing. Many large domestic and foreign software businesses have established their offices in the city, including FPT Software, Axon Active, Gameloft, LogiGear, MagRabbit, Global Cybersoft, Enclave, Asnet, SDC and NAL Solutions. These companies have provided software outsourcing services for the Japanese, North American, Australian and European markets.

Despite the dramatic increase in the export revenues of software producers, the city’s software industry is facing a severe shortage of skilled IT employees, especially those who have foreign language proficiency, and high-quality software managers.

Also, many IT businesses find it more difficult to seek their partners and expand their consumption markets compared with those in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City.

In a bid to help IT businesses to deal with their problems, the city is paying special attention to accelerating the construction of the Da Nang Software Park 2 and the dedicated IT Park in order to welcome more IT domestic and foreign businesses.

In addition, the 1,129ha dedicated IT Park project in Hoa Vang District’s Hoa Lien Commune is underway at a cost of 8,842 billion VND. This will be the third largest hi-tech park in Viet Nam behind Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Moreover, importance is being attached to helping local universities and colleges to enhance the quality of its training activities, inviting even more domestic and foreign IT experts to work in the city, and connecting local IT businesses with other ones from both home and abroad.