Finance is the key to developing the software industry, director of Vietsoftware Tran Luong Son has said.

Son made the comment during a panel discussion concerning the development of a fund to support the software industry. The panel was held by the Institute of Software Industry last week.

The establishment of the fund is a result of a decision made by the Minister of Information and Communications.

Son said setting up a fund to support the claims was extremely necessary for the business sector. He added that software companies have not received financial support from the State. Meanwhile, banks had largely been unwilling to give loans to software companies, which has stalled the development of the sector.

Son said Vietsoftware were seeking for investment sources. However most investors operating in Viet Nam had very little professional experience. Therefore many investments were not efficient.

According to Son, investors must have thorough knowledge of the field before providing funds to the IT sector.

Nguyen Quang Trung, director general of the Viet Nam Union Securities Investment Management Fund, said capital was very necessary for business, but the mechanism of how the funds are used should be re-examined.

He said if the capital was invested without the proper, preliminary research, then the investments would not be profitable. Therefore, market mechanisms would help the funds and be more effective than direct investment from the State.

Hoang Le Minh, director of the Institute of Software Technology and Digital Content, said the institute would study to create two or three models in order to find out the most effective methods.

For efficiency, the fund will consider new investment methods for projects starting in April and will choose a pilot project first.