Taiwanese experts shared experiences in IT development with their Vietnamese counterparts at a seminar held in the city on Thursday.
Participants said the quality of information technology products in the country should be improved through close co-operation between the factory and the research and development (R&D) departments. This also needed supporting policies from the Government, they said.
The seminar, themed "Integration quality for IT products", was organised by the HCM City's IT Press Club and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).
"We'd like to share our practical experiences in developing the IT industry with local enterprises," said Tso Wei Dar, chief representative office of TAITRA to Viet Nam.
The IT industry had developed steadily over the last 20 years, but it had to overcome initial failures in localisation, the seminar heard.
"The result is that most of local companies import accessories, install and put Vietnamese brandnames on them. Right now, we don't have a real IT industry, except for a small group of enterprises who are trying to make Vietnamese computers," said Pham Thien Nghe, general secretary of the HCM City Computers Association.
Other reasons restricting development of the industry were the small investment in relevant R&D and the lack of co-operation between enterprises and institutions.
"All these have made the industry stagnate at an initial stage," said Ngo Van Vi, general director of Viettronics Tan Binh (VTB).
Tso Wei Dar shared at the seminar his thoughts on how Taiwan was able to solve such problems.
"Our research institutions have a duty to meet development requirements from enterprises. They will provide what enterprises need with financial support from authorities. It is a close co-operation," he said.
Tso also emphasised the vital role of R&D for each company.
"To create each company's product, enterprises should pay attention to their own R&D initiatives," he added.
Last year, Viet Nam exported IT goods and services worth US$2.8 billion, mostly through FDI enterprises, and imported $4.5 billion for computers, electronic accessories and products.