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| Introducing digital platforms for SMEs and cooperatives at a seminar on digital transformation in An Giang province__Photo: VNA |
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), cooperatives and business households that are engaged in the development of digital economy could receive support covering up to 100 per cent of costs of renting digital technology solutions, delivered through the issuance of digital transformation support vouchers.
This is one of the key points in the draft decree detailing a number of provisions of the Law on Digital Transformation.
Under the draft decree, micro-businesses, including micro-business households, micro-cooperatives and micro-enterprises, would be entitled to financial support for covering all costs of renting basic digital solutions and platforms, and shared-use platforms, such as solutions and tools for sales management, electronic invoicing, electronic documentation, use of digital signatures, and e-commerce. The specific list of such solutions will be published by the Ministry of Finance.
In addition, they would receive up to 100-per cent coverage for fees to participate in training and capacity-building courses to improve the awareness about digital transformation and develop basic digital skills; financial support for covering costs of procuring or renting cybersecurity products, solutions and services to protect their information systems and data security; and free assessment of their digital transformation readiness.
For the group of small- and medium-sized cooperatives and enterprises, support would cover up to 50 per cent of costs of renting digital products, solutions and basic platforms in such domains as digital governance, digital finance, multi-channel integrated management, and e-commerce. Similar support would apply to sector-specific or in-depth digital solutions and platforms, including those using artificial intelligence and business data analytics, as well as cybersecurity products, solutions, and services. The list of platforms would be announced by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
This group would also benefit from full coverage of domestic training and capacity-building costs for basic digital skills; and up to 50-per cent coverage (up to VND 10 million per person per year) for advanced domestic digital skills training. The State would partially cover costs of assessing the digital transformation readiness and providing advices on working out appropriate digital transformation roadmaps.
Eligibility for these groups would be determined based on criteria for micro-enterprises, small- and medium-sized enterprises that are established and operate in accordance with the laws on enterprises and cooperatives, and have at least 51 per cent of their charter capital held by Vietnamese individuals or organisations.
Enterprises and cooperatives headquartered in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions, or in ethnic minority and mountainous regions, would be given priority.
The draft proposes providing aid primarily through the issuance, management and use of digital transformation support vouchers via the Digital Transformation Support Information System.
Other proposed forms of support provision include direct funding through non-budget state financial funds and state budget funds; direct budget allocations for digital skills training and capacity-building activities; and corporate income tax incentives for income amounts generated from service provision activities on the list of core digital economy sectors.
According to the draft’s explanatory note, these support measures address practical challenges and limitations. SMEs account for 97.3 per cent of all domestic enterprises, contributing around 45 per cent of GDP and generating 60 per cent of total jobs (for some 35 million workers). This segment is described as having a “very significant economic impact but with poor operational efficiency.”
Among micro-enterprises, on average, for every two profitable ones, one suffers losses; the ratio is 3:2 for small-sized enterprises and 7:3 for medium-sized ones. The digital transformation level remains low in this group: only 16 per cent apply comprehensive internal solutions such as ERP or CRM, while just 5 per cent have achieved full digitalisation with initial data integration and AI applications.
In addition to the provisions on provision of digital transformation support for enterprises, the draft decree, containing 85 articles in nine chapters, also provides specific definitions for concepts related to digital transformation; formulation of digital transformation strategies, programmes, and plans; requirements on state agencies’ information provision in the digital environment; and rules governing digital systems, platforms, and online public services.- (VLLF)
