Vietnam’s artificial intelligence sector needs stronger integration between research and application.
Vietnam’s artificial intelligence sector is entering a phase of rapid development; however, to progress further and sustainably, close integration between academic research and real-world applications is required. Scientific research from universities and research institutes provides new knowledge foundations and algorithms, while industry and society offer deployment environments and real-world feedback. This linkage not only enables AI to realize its full value but also brings Vietnam closer to its goal of becoming a regional hub for innovation.
Scientific research provides foundational knowledge and novel algorithms
In the artificial intelligence sector in Vietnam, academic research plays the role of a “backbone,” driving foundational breakthroughs in theory, models, and algorithms. Universities and research institutes in Vietnam, while still limited in resources compared to leading international AI centers, have made notable progress in developing machine learning algorithms, natural language processing (NLP) for the Vietnamese language, as well as optimization models tailored to domestic data conditions. These research efforts not only contribute to the expansion of the global knowledge base but also lay the groundwork for practical applications, ranging from Vietnamese-language chatbots and recommendation systems in e-commerce to medical image recognition.
In particular, academic research ensures the sustainability of AI development through two key factors. First, international scientific publications validate and establish the quality of new algorithms against global standards. Second, research outcomes can be reused and extended across multiple domains, generating spillover effects throughout the entire AI ecosystem. Therefore, without a strong academic research foundation, enterprises struggle to build AI products robust enough for long-term competitiveness, and nations find it difficult to position themselves on the global AI landscape.
Industry and society provide environments for experimentation and deployment.
If scientific research generates foundational knowledge and novel algorithms, industry and society serve as the means to validate their real-world value. In Vietnam, major technology enterprises such as Viettel, FPT, VinAI, as well as AI startups, have become key environments for deploying and testing deep learning models, recommendation systems, and big data analytics tools in real business contexts. Practical demands—such as optimizing production processes, enhancing customer experience, and mitigating financial risks—have created favorable conditions for research outcomes to be directly applied within the socio-economic landscape.
On the other hand, the surge of data from social media, e-commerce, digital healthcare, and public service platforms provides rich data sources for AI models to learn and evolve. This represents a distinct advantage when combined with advanced algorithms, enabling models to achieve higher accuracy, adapt more rapidly, and better reflect Vietnam’s real-world conditions. Deployment across industry and society not only helps assess feasibility but also creates continuous feedback loops for research improvement, thereby significantly shortening the gap between laboratory research and real-life applications.
Stronger integration between research and application helps shorten the gap from theory to real-world deployment.
The gap between scientific research and real-world deployment has long been a persistent challenge in the development of the artificial intelligence sector in Vietnam. If limited solely to academic publications, many novel algorithms struggle to deliver value beyond scholarly contexts; conversely, if enterprises focus only on application without a solid theoretical foundation, AI products are unlikely to achieve sustainability or international competitiveness. Only through close integration between these two domains can a closed-loop cycle be formed: research provides core knowledge and technologies, while practical applications generate data, real-world scenarios, and feedback to continuously refine and improve them.
In Vietnam, collaborative projects between universities and enterprises, as well as applied research programs in healthcare and finance, have demonstrated clear effectiveness. This model not only shortens the time required to transfer ideas into products but also cultivates a new generation of AI talent that combines strong academic foundations with practical deployment capabilities. As a result, artificial intelligence in Vietnam can progress more rapidly, shifting from the role of a technology adopter to a proactive creator and contributor to the global market.The development of the artificial intelligence sector in Vietnam cannot rely solely on pure research or isolated applications; instead, it requires a sustainable bridge between academia and practice. When scientific research is validated and deployed within enterprises, while simultaneously receiving feedback data from society, AI can become a true driving force for innovation. This is the path through which Vietnam can affirm its position on the global artificial intelligence map.
