Digital Transformation Opens New Opportunities for Vietnam’s Cultural Industries

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Speakers at the conference emphasized that digital transformation is not merely a technological shift, but is also reshaping the ways people create, preserve, distribute, and access cultural values in the modern era.

The international conference “Southern Digitalities: Transformations, Cultures, Heritage, and Possibilities across Asia” addressed the impact of digital technology on cultural life, education, and creative industries in Asia. (Photo: Thu Phuong)

Digital space reshaping creativity and cultural access

Speaking at the conference, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Viet Khoi, Vice Rector of the School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Arts under the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, stated that Vietnam’s cultural and creative industries are entering a phase of restructuring under the influence of digital technology. Cultural sectors are increasingly becoming associated with data, digital platforms, and new creative models.

In terms of content production, many cultural products are now being developed directly within digital environments with the support of artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and CGI graphic technologies. These technologies are fostering the growth of the “creator economy,” in which individuals can directly produce and disseminate their cultural products to the public.

Digital transformation is also changing the ways culture is distributed and accessed. Heritage sites, artistic programs, and creative products are no longer confined to traditional spaces, but are increasingly appearing on online platforms. Digital technology makes cultural experiences more vivid and enables Vietnamese cultural products to reach international audiences quickly without requiring multiple intermediary stages.

Business models in the cultural and creative sectors are also evolving toward greater openness and interactivity. Instead of merely providing services or products through traditional methods, many organizations are shifting to co-creation models with communities, combining digitalization, creative design, and user experience. Cultural audiences are directly participating in interactions, contributing content, and creating new trends in cyberspace.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Viet Khoi speaks at the conference. (Photo: Thu Phuong)

According to Nguyen Viet Khoi, Vietnam possesses many favorable conditions for developing cultural and creative industries in the digital era. The country has a rich repository of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, a young population, high internet penetration, and abundant cultural resources. National digital transformation programs, orientations toward digital economic development, and innovation initiatives are creating additional momentum for the sector’s growth. In recent years, Vietnam’s digital content market has recorded rapid growth, with many Vietnamese cultural products beginning to enter international markets. Startups in design, communications, and cultural industries are also emerging as new highlights of the creative economy.

Identity as the foundation

At the panel discussion “Digital transformation in Asia from a decolonial perspective,” held within the framework of the conference, experts stressed that digital transformation should not simply be viewed as a process of adopting technology from abroad, but should instead begin with the specific needs and cultural characteristics of each nation.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thu Giang of the University of Queensland, Australia, the reality in Vietnam shows that users have proactively adapted and developed many ways of using digital platforms that suit local life. Before e-commerce platforms became widespread, many individuals had already utilized social media for business and community connections. This demonstrates that when digital platforms entered Vietnamese society, they were “localized” according to the country’s own social needs and operational practices.

International experts also emphasized the need to view digital transformation in connection with culture, education, and social life. Professor Marwan M. Kraidy of Northwestern University in Qatar stated that, in the current context, higher education should serve as a space that helps learners develop critical thinking, dialogue skills, and social understanding.

The conference also addressed the growing trend of strengthening connections among Asian countries in research and the development of digital technology. Rather than viewing technological flows solely as moving from the West to Asia, many participants argued that countries in the region can learn from one another through practical experiences that share similar cultural, social, and developmental contexts.

In this context, experts believe Vietnam has an opportunity to leverage digital transformation to directly develop digital content industries and a creative economy with its own distinct identity. The combination of technology, creative culture, and business, together with the improvement of legal frameworks and the development of domestic digital platforms, will be important factors in helping Vietnamese culture expand its influence within the global digital environment.

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