Sweden-based Ericsson and Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) signed an MOU to establish an IoT innovation hub in Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park in Hanoi.

The hub, scheduled to open in Q1 2019, will support start-ups in developing, testing and commercialising IoT applications.

Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh said at a signing ceremony Vietnam should create favourable conditions for business development by fostering human resources and building a synchronous infrastructure system, noting the country should also complete its 4G network and study 5G to meet IoT requirements, Viet Nam News reported.


The newspaper quoted Denis Brunetti, head of Ericsson Vietnam and Myanmar, as saying: “Ericsson fully supports the government’s National Innovation Network Programme, which recognises the need for enhancing Vietnam’s innovation capability to meet challenges and capture the opportunities associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

He said its investment in Vietnam is about building an IoT infrastructure, “but at the same time working with the MoST and entrepreneurs and businesses as well as universities to bring them together in an ecosystem which creates technology application on top of the IoT platform”.

Vietnam, a country of 96 million people, has about 140 million mobile connections with 35 per cent supporting broadband speeds, data from GSMA Intelligence showed.