According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the event affirms Vietnam's strong commitment to developing and mastering digital technology based on open standards, towards the goal of "open to development, to Make in Vietnam".
In his opening speech, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized: "Digital technology has, is and will penetrate every corner of social life, becoming our 'breath of life'. Therefore, technology must be as cheap as air. The way to achieve that is open technology".
According to the minister, open technology is not only open source code, but also includes open architecture, open standards and goes hand in hand with open culture. When everyone contributes to development, shares the use, technology will become popular and the value of use for each citizen will decrease.
Digital technology today has become the foundation of the socio-economy. The Minister said that "the greatest movement in human history is the movement from the real world to the virtual world". However, countries are facing concerns about cybersecurity and digital trust will be the deciding factor for the success of this process.
That trust can only be guaranteed when the technology used by the country is open technology - where all members of society can verify, monitor and create together.
open technology is so that countries can master the technology they use, said the minister. Vietnam cannot continue to buy "black boxes" from outside and leave the fate of national technology to other countries. According to him, more and more countries have declared that they will only buy technology when it is open technology, especially with the country's critical infrastructure.
Minister Nguyen Manh Hung affirmed that the greatest creativity is the creativity of the entire people. No one understands their problem better than themselves. National creativity can only happen when technology is open. Open technology will unleash the creativity of each individual, he emphasized. At that time, each person can stand on the shoulders of others to continue to develop, creating a higher level of knowledge for the community.
The theme of this year's Vietnam Open Summit - "AI with open technology and open source code" was assessed by the minister as a strategy for Vietnam to break through, not fall behind. This is a way to turn users into technology creators, and at the same time, a way to help AI develop safely.
According to the minister, "open to accelerate innovation, shorten technology gaps; open to autonomy and build sovereign AI; open to nurture the business ecosystem, especially small businesses and startups; open to safety and transparency, many parties monitor and reduce risks of abuse of power, fraud and manipulation". However, he also noted that openness does not mean lack of discipline. Operating must also be safe, with clear standards, inspections and responsibilities, he said.
The Minister said that the State must play a leading role in this process - through the use of open source code for digital governance, building a national AI supercomputing center, a national AI-open data center and ordering open AI problems. This is the foundation for forming an open technology ecosystem, connecting the State, businesses, institutes and creative communities.
Vietnam Open Summit is Vietnam's commitment to developing and mastering digital technology based on open standards. Not only a commitment, but this is also our strategy: open to develop and master Vietnamese technology, to Make in Vietnam, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung affirmed.
Not stopping at words, the minister called for specific action from all sides. Each agency and enterprise should take a job and commit to action. State agencies should take action to build policies and strategies. Enterprises should take action to develop platforms. Training institutions should take action to nurture and develop an open community".
Accordingly, Vietnam Open Summit 2025 will launch an Action Program for 2026 to develop the open community of Vietnam, especially in the field of artificial intelligence - where Vietnam can both learn and pioneer.
Minister Nguyen Manh Hung ended his speech with an inspiring call: "Let's have strong faith in the ability to master technology to solve Vietnam's problems, help the country develop, and from here go global, contributing to the development of humanity".
