Simon Milner, Vice President of Public Policy for Asia Pacific at Meta, speaks at a ceremony in Hanoi on September 08, 2023 to announe 12 best innovative solutions of Vietnam Innovation Challenge 2023. (Photo credit: NIC)

Bao Tram: How do you rate the startup ecosystem for small and medium enterprises in Vietnam?

Simon Milner: We’re very positive about the digital ecosystem in Vietnam. I'd say one thing I heard from the Minister (Minister of Planning and Investment) today. He said, “We're only just starting. We have a lot to improve.” I think that ambition is great to have. In our company we have a saying, which is “This journey is only 1% finished”. “Not resting on your laurels” is the British expression. Therefore, we’re constantly imagining, actually, that we're not doing what we need to do more of, otherwise we'll fall behind. And it's great to see. It's not just about dynamism; it's also about ambition. It’s very impressive.

Bao Tram: How do you see the challenges of innovative businesses in Vietnam in the future?

Simon Milner: I think I'm not the expert on that, in the sense of, you know, we want to partner with organizations, including the NIC and other parts of government that interact, and indeed, city governments like in Danang City, and to learn from them about the challenges that they see and then see how we can help. So, I think I'm the last person who should be suggesting to SMEs in Vietnam, you know, what their main challenges are, what they should do. We have solutions which will enable them to reach markets here and overseas. We have technologies that they can think of.

Bao Tram: What policies does Meta have to promote and support innovative businesses?

Simon Milner: Actually, our primary focus when it comes to supporting innovation is our products, not our policies. Because through our products and particularly Facebook and Messenger, which I know are used by small and medium-sized businesses, as well as larger businesses, they enable innovation directly.

So we see many examples in different industries, including in your industry, in the news industry, innovation that's being enabled by our products, but those products are available across the globe. Vietnam is, and has always been, a very important country for Meta, where we are able to support SMEs in the wider digital economy.

So the best support for innovation is innovative products, but then we also have what we call programs rather than policies, which we built over several years, typically in partnership with the government of Vietnam to support digital skills. In the last five years in Vietnam, Meta has provided digital skills training for 580,000 students, close to 25,000 teachers, and 64,000 small and medium-sized businesses, and then more targeted measures, for instance, around developer communities.

As we've learned about what matters in this country, the kind of policies of the government around innovation, I think, has really crystallized in this challenge. So when we were approached by the Ministry [of Planning and Investment] last year, we were very keen to move forward. It's been quite a long time coming, since we announced the MOU or we signed the MOU in May last year, but it's always wonderful to see it more than a year later. We're here today at the award ceremony.

I'd say these are the core of our investments. And for Vietnam, many of the investments we make are to ensure that our products work, that people can enjoy every part of those products in the Vietnamese language, that we have a team of people in the company who help us really understand Vietnam and how we invest people in businesses.

Bao Tram: Vietnam Innovation Challenge 2023 received 758 innovative solutions, 24 of them entered the final round, and 12 highly potential solutions were honored. In which fields does Meta want to promote investment in Vietnam in the coming years, especially in the current context of financial difficulties?

Simon Milner: We know we are a big and successful company. But in the last 18 months, we've had to take a long hard look at ourselves and ask, “Are we making the right investments? Have we become too bloated?” So, we're reducing and focusing and continuing to invest in long term performance. And I think that's always a good lesson for companies, big and small, as well as countries, to make sure we’re not being complacent. And we're really looking a long way ahead. It's great to see that in the end.

The awarded solutions today are different solutions for different industries with a different focus in the four areas. These will bring benefits across a range of sectors. We are committed for the long term to this and we’ll be working with, not all of the winners, but those where there's some relevance that we can bring to help them with. I think, to be more specific, we need to follow up.

Bao Tram: Thank you, Mr. Simon Milner, for granting VOV this interview.

Simon Milner: Thank you so much. Very nice to meet you all!