Singapore shares experience with Vietnam on leadership and digital governance

The course opened on the morning of October 26 in Hanoi, within the framework of the Singapore Cooperation Program organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology and taught by the Nanyang Public Administration Center, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore).

During three days, directors of the Departments of Science and Technology of 34 provinces and cities will learn about Singapore's experience in digital transformation, innovation, and digital governance, and discuss how to apply it in accordance with Vietnam's development priorities. This is an activity that concretizes the two countries' commitment to strengthening cooperation and human resource training.

The course focuses on six topics, including innovation in the public sector and design thinking; talent strategy and culture of innovation; Singapore's experience in developing e-government and digital innovation; application and commercialization of research results; building a smart nation; digital resilience and resilience.

In his opening speech, Minister of Science and Technology Vu Hai Quan said that digital transformation in state agencies is not only about bringing existing processes to the online environment, but also requires changing the way of managing and organizing work.

"A process posted online can still take people a lot of time if unnecessary steps have not been eliminated," he said. Similarly, a system with a large investment can still be ineffective if data is not shared and units are not coordinated.

To lead digital transformation, leaders must understand technology, understand data and know how to organize change. "Innovating management thinking and improving implementation capacity is a very practical requirement," the Minister emphasized.

The training class aims for three results. First of all, help each officer form a new approach: starting from practical problems and needs of people and businesses to design policies, processes and services. The Ministry of Science and Technology wants to equip students with innovative organizational methods, know how to correctly identify problems, mobilize all parties to participate, test solutions, evaluate results and replicate effective methods.

At the same time, the course also aims to improve change leadership capacity; Build a team capable of continuous learning, cross-disciplinary collaboration and responsible use of technology. The goal is that after the class, Department directors will be able to answer the question: "At my agency, what needs to change and how will I start to change?".

Minister Vu Hai Quan asked Department directors to study seriously, discuss frankly about the practical problems of their units, proactively ask questions and work with experts to find solutions.

At the same time, officials need to selectively absorb Singaporean experience to apply it appropriately and creatively to Vietnamese practice. Finally, there's "learning with action," which can start with shortening a process, sharing a data set, or improving a service.

Vietnam is the world's largest recipient of training and sharing development experiences under the Singapore Cooperation Program (SCP), with more than 22,000 officials participating in more than 300 courses.

According to Singapore Ambassador to Vietnam Rajpal Singh, Singapore's digital transformation journey is a process of continuous learning and adaptation. The country's experience "may not be directly applicable in all contexts", but he hopes Singapore's lessons will provide a useful perspective for Vietnam. Singapore also wants to learn from Vietnam's practice, to adjust policies and implementation methods when necessary.

Trong Dat