Madam, the cultural industry is being identified as a new driving force for economic growth. How far do you think the current human resources have met the development requirements of this field?
- From the perspective of cultural research and management, I believe that the human resources of the cultural industry in Vietnam have made remarkable progress in both quantity, quality and access to new trends, but overall, this human resource has only met part of the development requirements of the industry.
Many training institutions have paid more attention to fields related to the cultural industry, contributing to the formation of a team of workers with creative thinking, digital technology access and international integration capacity.
However, the current bottleneck is not simply the lack of people, but the lack of the right people for the right position in the creative value chain. The cultural industry needs human resources capable of combining artistic creation, technology, management, business and law.
In reality, many artists, designers, and creators have good professional expertise but are still limited in project management, marketing, intellectual property, market development and product commercialization. Conversely, a part of management, business and technology human resources do not really understand the specifics of creative labor and cultural products.
In addition, we also lack a team of leading experts in market research, value chain management, cultural brand building, copyright, data and policy planning for the cultural industry.
In the context of global competition, the cultural industry not only needs talented artists but also producers, managers, technology experts, legal experts and people who are able to connect creative resources into a complete ecosystem.
Many businesses in the fields of cinema, music, design, advertising, electronic games or digital media said that it is very difficult to recruit personnel who are both creative and knowledgeable about technology, business and law. According to you, what is the core cause of this situation?
- In my opinion, the core cause is not only the number of learners but mainly the mismatch between the training program, professional competency standards and the actual needs of businesses.
The cultural industry is a field with very high interdisciplinary nature. Behind a cultural product is the coordination between content creators, technology experts, producers, media professionals, copyright experts, data experts and business teams.
Meanwhile, most of the current training programs are still organized according to separate majors, not creating much space for students of art, technology, economics and law to work together in a common project.
Businesses currently not only need people with good expertise but also human resources with simultaneous creative thinking, the ability to apply digital technology, business thinking and commercialization, as well as understanding of the law, especially intellectual property and copyright.
The biggest gap today is the shortage of human resources capable of connecting these competency groups simultaneously.
Another reason is that the participation of businesses in the training process is still limited. Without a flexible update mechanism and the regular participation of businesses, the gap between training and labor use will continue to widen.
According to you, which groups of human resources are most lacking in Vietnam and how should investment be prioritized to improve the competitiveness of the cultural industry?
- In my opinion, the positions that are lacking are the links that create high added value, determine product quality, public access and commercialization capacity.
In the coming time, I think it is necessary to prioritize 3 groups of human resources. The first group is content creative human resources, including screenwriters, creative directors, production designers, animation, visual effects and those who directly create cultural products. This is the force that determines the originality, artistic quality and attractiveness of the product.
The second group is management and commercialization human resources, including producers, cultural project managers, artist managers, cultural marketing people, brand building, copyright and intellectual property experts. This group helps bring creative values to the market, protect intellectual property and form sustainable business models.
The third group is technology and data human resources, especially in the fields of artificial intelligence, virtual reality technology, audience behavior analysis, platform management and digital content distribution. This is a group of human resources capable of expanding markets, improving productivity and creating new creative and cultural experiences.
More importantly, training should not only aim to fill short-term job positions but also need to aim to form a team capable of leading trends and creating products with Vietnamese identity, capable of competing in the international market.
What key solutions do you think are needed to solve the problem of cultural industry human resources in the context of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation taking place strongly?
- In my opinion, innovating the training program is one of the most urgent requirements. If the market needs interdisciplinary human resources but the school still continues to train according to a single-discipline thinking, the gap between training and labor demand will become larger and larger.
The training program needs to strongly shift to capacity-based and project-based training, creating conditions for learners to simultaneously access knowledge about creativity, technology, business and law. Businesses also need to be considered strategic partners of training institutions, participating from program development, practice organization to result evaluation.
In the context of AI and digital technology changing the entire value chain of the cultural industry, workers need to be equipped with digital skills, AI application capabilities, data analysis skills, business thinking, and knowledge of law and copyright. However, the most important thing is still lifelong learning ability, adaptability, and original creative thinking. Technology can support many stages, but cultural identity and creativity are still the core advantages of humans.
I believe that developing the cultural industry is first and foremost developing people. When building a high-quality human resource team, Vietnam will not only create many value-added cultural products and services but also spread national identity, enhance soft power and national position.
