The Global Index of Digital Entrepreneurship Systems (GIDES), developed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), showed that Viet Nam has ranked 63^rd out of 113 global economies in a global ranking of digital environment and support systems for entrepreneurs.

Making payments over the phone in Viet Nam (Photo: Vietnamplus)

The index measures the quality of the environment for digital entrepreneurs by looking at the level of digitalisation in eight areas, namely culture, institutions, market conditions, infrastructure, human capital, knowledge, finance, and networking.

Released by ADB as part of the Asian Development Outlook 2022 Update report, the GIDES has put Singapore in the first place, followed by the United States. Sweden has ranked the third on the list, followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands, Finland, and Norway.

In Asia, Malaysia has taken the 27^th spot on the list, Thailand (59^th), Indonesia (71^st), India (75^th), the Philippines (79th), while Cambodia has ranked 101^st . Seventeen of the 21 developing Asian economies included have ranked toward the bottom, underscoring the need for these economies to nurture digital entrepreneurship.

Experts have noted that digital entrepreneurship helped economies stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it can become a major engine of growth and innovation in the post-pandemic world. For this to happen, there needs to be a supportive environment enabled by conducive policies and incentives. While the environment for Asia’s digital entrepreneurs made substantial strides in the past couple of years, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

According to Aimee Hampel-Milagrosa, an economist in the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department at the ADB, the Vietnamese Government has identified that tech startups are the new engine of growth for Viet Nam.

In 2021, the top five startup sectors in Viet Nam were financial technology (fintech) with 26.6%, e-commerce with 20.3%, education technology (edtech) with 17.2%, healthtech with 7.8%, and service software with 6.3%.

In its efforts to drive the country’s digital growth, the Vietnamese government has issued financial and policy incentives to create and build the next generation of “unicorns”. Universities and research institutes across the country are also coordinating with provincial governments and national governement ministries and sectors to establish startup support units.

Reporting by NAM PHUONG – Translating by H.L