How to catch up with the 4.0 industrial revolution wave?

The advantage of cheap labor will gradually disappear when machinery replaces a lot of human work. Photo: Danh Lam.

To "catch up", and welcome the 4.0 revolution early, according to experts, there is a need for policy changes, mechanisms, or the radical restructuring from the Government.

The advantage of cheap labor is no longer available

The 4.0 industrial revolution was described by the economist Le Dang Doanh as the industrial revolution that gives wings for the three previous industrial revolutions, resulting in a significant increase in productivity thanks to the technology while the product cycle is much shorter than today. "We will see the shirts have internet, the glasses have internet. We will also see people welcome us in the court or in the hospital is not the real ones but robots", Mr. Doanh said.

The expert also said that the industry 4.0 is going strong as a "storm", promising to bring both opportunities and challenges for Vietnam. Accordingly, industry 4.0 will help Vietnam continue to innovate, continue restructuring, abandon the habit of small production, scrambled with businesses only to exploit resources, real estate to get rich. The pressure from this revolution will push the government and Vietnamese enterprises to change their institutions and policies to catch up with other economies in the world. However, the cheap labor advantage will gradually disappear as the machines will replace many of the human work.

Mr. Doanh illustrates, In the United States, 40% of newly graduated lawyers are unemployed stem from artificial intelligence that can look into whether any lawsuit relates to any law in just 60 seconds while a real lawyer cannot complete in the hours. Or in the field of economics, more than 40% of graduated bachelor are unemployed simply since only by entering data, computers can give most charts or predict the trend. In Vietnam, in the field of making simple shirts, workers will be replaced by automated systems that produce 500% higher productivity than the average person.

Confirming this issue, Mr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, General Director of Garment 10 admitted that the 4.0 industrial revolution will bring many opportunities for developing countries like Vietnam. However, the textile and garment industry is expected to have 86% of the labor force in the textile and garment and footwear sectors will be unemployed due to the competitiveness of machinery. "If there is a difference that machines cannot replace, then we will win," said Ms. Huyen.

While according to Mr. Dang Viet Dung, Executive Director of Uber Vietnam, the nature of the 4.0 industrial revolution is the convergence of the physical economy, digital economy, biology, based on the man-made intellectual intelligence. In the future, industry 4.0 will change the nature of many jobs and the structure of many industries.

Need for mutation

According to economic experts, Vietnam's growth model has come to the natural limits, so if not reformed, the inherent small economy with enterprise’ advantages based on the price difference, the policy type of administration or based on the availability of natural conditions etc., Vietnam will certainly face great challenges and the real crisis.

Mr. Vu Hoang Lien, Chairman of Vietnam Internet Association, said that the third revolution in Vietnam did not catch up, then with the 4th revolution, the challenge will be bigger. If the fourth revolution is left for natural development, sooner or later it will develop or get progress, but the gap between Vietnam and other countries cannot be shortened. Therefore, according to Mr. Lien, to catch up to 4.0 industry, there is a need for mutation. The tool to create the mutation is not the people but the invisible hand of the government and only the State creates the mutation. "In order to catch up the fourth revolution, we can catch up on consumption, but to catch up on creativity and production requires a strong "hand" from the government", he said.

Meeting with this view, Mr. Vo Tri Thanh, former Deputy Director of the Institute for Central Economic Management and Research, acknowledged that in order to catching up the 4.0 industrial revolution, need 4 elements: Institution and leadership in which the role of the leader is important; Secondly, the system of education, training, new skills and digital manpower; Thirdly, institutions should promote creativity and in the creativity, enterprise should be the center or the pragmatism must be very high; The fourth is network security, connected security.

Looking more specifically, from the fact that most textile and footwear workers will be unemployed, Mr. Doanh said, machines cannot produce sophisticated clothing, cannot decide whether to continue. Whether to replace the market or not etc. It shows that if the understanding of the work, people still stand. "Industrial revolution 4.0 is not something that is unattainable in the sky, but from agriculture, vendors to banks can practice the 4.0 revolution. However, in order to catch up the 4.0 revolution requires policy and mechanism changes, needs a radical restructuring of the Government", Mr. Doanh said.