Universities and Businesses Co-creating a Digital Transformation Ecosystem: Lessons from Lào Cai and Sơn La
After one year of implementing the IDAP project at the Thai Nguyen University Branch in Lào Cai, the initial changes have revealed a highly promising pilot model: students are directly placed in businesses, assisting with small but essential tasks such as raising awareness of digital tools, guiding software usage, and collecting basic data. Through this process, both enterprises and students grow together — businesses gradually overcome their fear of technology, while students gain valuable hands-on experience in the local business environment.
A standout feature of this model is the transformation within the university itself. With guidance from IDAP, the Lào Cai branch has developed a Bachelor’s Program in Digital Economics, set to begin enrollment in 2025. At the same time, digital transformation content will be integrated across all subjects — from management and finance to marketing — creating a comprehensive approach rather than limiting it to a few standalone courses. This demonstrates that the university is not merely reacting to trends, but truly internalizing digital transformation as a foundational competency for all disciplines.
Three key lessons emerge after a year of implementation.
First, starting small is the right approach for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in mountainous regions. When a student helps a household business adopt a sales management app or learn how to store customer data, that is the first brick in a long-term digital journey.
Second, linking education with practice creates a double impact: students learn from real-world experiences, and businesses benefit from youthful digital talent.
Third, change comes from a collaborative system — with IDAP as the coordinator, universities innovating their curricula, students participating actively, and businesses embracing the process.
Looking beyond Lào Cai to Sơn La, a similar initiative is emerging: the Sơn La Digital Workforce Platform, initiated by Mr. Nguyễn Tiến Dũng of Tây Bắc University. Its distinctive feature is that the university doesn’t just train and “push” students into the job market — it actively connects them with businesses. Small enterprises, household businesses, and cooperatives can find flexible, tech-savvy digital workers for specific tasks such as managing fan pages, designing visuals, online communication, or managing Google Maps. Students earn extra income, gain real-world experience, and are mentored by lecturers to ensure quality outcomes.
Both models demonstrate the immense potential of Vietnamese universities in supporting local businesses’ digital transformation. The key lies not in large-scale technological solutions, but in how universities design mechanisms that connect students — young digital talents — with enterprises. When these mechanisms evolve into formal training programs, support centers, or digital workforce platforms, the benefits extend beyond students and businesses to help shape a local digital ecosystem.
For other universities seeking direction, the lessons from Lào Cai and Sơn La offer a clear path forward: treat digital transformation not merely as a subject to teach, but as a dynamic process linking the classroom with the community. Each local business becomes a “real-world laboratory”, each student a “small digital transformation agent”, and each university a “knowledge coordination hub”. Achieving this means universities go beyond granting degrees — they help create genuine value for Vietnam’s digital economy.
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