A conference took place in HCM City on May 10, centering around the fourth industrial revolution and the application of Internet of Things (IoT) in smart manufacturing.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology, National Council for Science and Technology Policy and Advantech Group to provide a general overview of trends and impacts of the industrial revolution 4.0 on Vietnam’s industrial sector, particularly in smart manufacturing.

Addressing the conference, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung said the wave of new technologies is disrupting existing industry structure and the increased use of automatic technologies allows global manufacturers to relocate factories to their home countries, taking back jobs from low-cost labour nations.

During the event, experts voiced concerns over the fact that the fourth industrial revolution, with the development of virtual reality, robotics and artificial intelligence, is producing sweeping changes to labour market and the ways products are made and consumed.

Technological innovation has made negative impacts on countries like Vietnam who will become less beneficial from low-cost workers.

The 2016 World Economic Forum forecast that Vietnam will lose about 5 million jobs in 2020 as a consequence of low labour quality, only scoring 3.79 out of 10.

Participants to the conference debated solutions for the country to make use of the wave of new technologies in improving local technology and production capacity along with competitiveness. They shared ideas on how to create more opportunities for firms to innovate and invest in digital technology.

Deputy Minister Tung underlined the necessity to implement the national science and technology renovation programme and other projects on technological innovation and hi-tech and national product development.