Major General Nguyễn Ngọc Cương. — Photo vov.vn

Major General Nguyễn Ngọc Cương, director of the National Data Centre, speaks to the Voice of Vietnam about the centre’s strategic role in building a digital nation and a digital economy.

What is the role of the National Data Centre in the strategy for developing the digital nation and digital economy in line with the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress?

In accordance with the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress, the National Data Centre is positioned as a particularly important strategic infrastructure of the digital nation, serving as a foundational pillar for digital government, digital economy and digital society development.

The National Data Centre acts as the core hub integrating and interconnecting 20 national databases and 116 sectoral databases across ministries, sectors and localities.

It standardises and synchronises more than 6,300 core data attributes, gradually forming a centralised, unified and shared national database system.

The centre provides trusted core data to support innovation, artificial intelligence development, fintech, e-commerce and emerging technologies.

It also serves as essential infrastructure to safeguard digital sovereignty, national data security, and safety, contributing to a new growth model driven by science, technology and digital transformation.

The resolution also calls for mechanisms and policies to mobilise resources effectively for the synchronised development of strategic national infrastructure projects, including high-speed railways, urban railways in Hà Nội and HCM City, nuclear power, offshore wind power, the National Data Centre and other critical national data infrastructures, while promoting breakthrough economic models such as special economic zones, technology zones, free trade zones and international financial centres.

During the construction of the National Data Centre, what core principles are applied to ensure synchronisation, modernisation, cost efficiency and long-term scalability?

The core guiding principle throughout the development process is to ensure that data is 'accurate, sufficient, clean, live, unified and shared,' in line with the Central Steering Committee’s direction under Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW and further specified in Regulation No. 05.

Data must reflect reality accurately, be complete within the scope of State management, be standardised, cleansed, regularly updated, structured uniformly and effectively shared among agencies within the political system.

The organisation, connectivity and operation of the National Data Centre are implemented in accordance with the national data architecture framework stipulated in Decree No. 278/2025/NĐ-CP on mandatory data connection and sharing within the political system.

At the same time, it ensures consistency with the overall national digital architecture framework and the national data architecture under Decision No. 2439/QĐ-TTg of the Prime Minister and Resolution No. 214/NQ-CP on promoting data creation, connection, sharing and utilisation for national digital transformation.

This approach helps build a modern, cost-effective data infrastructure, avoid overlapping investments and ensure long-term scalability to meet the requirements of digital government, digital economy and digital society development in line with the Party Congress’ Resolution.

The launch eremony of the National Data Centre in August 2025 at Hoà Lạc Hi-tech Park in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

How are the mechanisms for management, operation and data sharing between the National Data Centre and ministries, sectors and localities designed to ensure both smooth operation and strict data discipline?

The current mechanism is built on an increasingly comprehensive legal framework on data, ensuring both flexibility and strict discipline.

The National Data Centre serves as the core hub for integrating, coordinating and supervising shared data nationwide.

Ministries, sectors and localities remain data owners, responsible for data quality, completeness, timeliness and security within their jurisdiction.

The National Public Service Portal operates under a centralised 'single digital gateway' model, directly utilising data from the National Data Centre and other national and sectoral databases to serve citizens and businesses under the principle of 'data replacing paper' and “providing once, using many times”.

The information system for direction and administration serving Party, State and Government leaders is also connected to real-time aggregated data from the centre to ensure accurate and timely information for macro-level governance.

The national data exchange platform, with the national data portal as its core component, serves as a space for data operation and value exploitation. Shared data catalogues, open data, paid data services and authorised datasets are published and managed through the portal in accordance with regulations, supporting innovation, research, product development and the digital economy.

All data sharing and utilisation processes are strictly controlled through mechanisms for authorisation, decentralisation, authentication, logging and monitoring, ensuring smooth data flows while maintaining discipline, security, safety and national data sovereignty.

What measures are being implemented to ensure data safety, security and national data sovereignty amid increasing risks of cyberattacks and data breaches?

Amid rising cyber threats and data leak risks, the National Data Centre is implementing comprehensive measures to ensure data safety and security and safeguard national data sovereignty.

On January 20, 2026, the Ministry of Public Security issued a plan on ensuring security and safety for National Data Centre No. 1, designated as an important project related to national security.

The Centre is also developing and operating a State data management system to monitor the entire data lifecycle within the political system, from creation and standardisation to connection, sharing and utilisation.

This system manages data catalogues, database connectivity status, access control, usage logs and compliance with data discipline.

The centre closely coordinates with the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05) to implement cybersecurity measures in accordance with the law, applying a multi-layered protection model with around the clock centralised monitoring to proactively prevent, detect and promptly address risks.

This comprehensive approach ensures effective data connectivity and utilisation for governance and socio-economic development while safeguarding national data discipline and digital sovereignty in the digital era.

How are national databases classified, standardised, cleansed and connected to improve data quality for State management and policymaking?

Việt Nam has established a relatively comprehensive legal corridor for data and is developing national and sectoral data architecture frameworks.

The Ministry of Public Security has issued standards and technical regulations for connection to the National Data Centre and established a shared data dictionary to ensure a unified 'data language'.

Data are classified into original data, master data, core data, important data and shared data. Each data field is labelled with its source, reliability level, security classification and scope of use to clarify management and sharing responsibilities.

After classification, data are standardised according to national identifiers and catalogues, cross-checked, cleansed, and digitally signed to become legally valid electronic records.

Systems are connected via the national data sharing and coordination platform, with automated data agents ensuring real-time standardisation and synchronisation, keeping data 'accurate – sufficient – clean – live – unified – shared'.

This enables a shift from report-based management to real-time data governance, enhancing policy quality, reducing administrative procedures and better serving citizens and businesses.

What are the main challenges in developing and exploiting national digital data, particularly regarding institutions, technology and human resources?

The challenge lies in the overall transition from traditional management to data-driven governance. Key difficulties fall into three groups: institutions, technology and human resources.

Institutionally, data are a new type of asset and many legal regulations were designed for paper-based administration.

Overlapping authorities in data creation, sharing and valuation remain. Some agencies still associate management authority with data ownership. The data economy and public data service models are still evolving.

Technologically, data are fragmented across systems built in different periods with varying standards, making integration and cleansing difficult.

Massive, continuously changing datasets require real-time processing infrastructure, high security, and intelligent analytics capabilities. Cybersecurity threats and technological dependence also pose risks.

In terms of human resources, there is a shortage of data governance and data science experts. Many agencies lack dedicated data management staff, and awareness of data as a strategic asset remains limited in some places.

Developing national data is therefore not merely a technical issue but a governance transformation process.

How are AI and big data technologies being applied to enhance forecasting, analysis and policymaking capacity?

The Law on Artificial Intelligence has established a legal framework for responsible AI development and application.

The National Data Centre is building a National AI Database and AI-supporting data systems to create a shared knowledge infrastructure.

A large, standardised, labelled and quality-controlled data warehouse is being developed, integrating real-time data from population, economic, social and sectoral domains.

Big data and AI technologies are applied to identify trends, assess risks and simulate policies, supporting forecasts on demographics, labour markets, social security, transport, healthcare and other socio-economic issues.

AI serves decision-making but does not replace it. Final decisions remain with State authorities. Data access is controlled, anonymised where necessary and logged to protect privacy.

Looking toward 2030 and beyond, what fundamental changes does the National Data Centre aim to bring to national governance and public service delivery?

By 2030 and beyond, the National Data Centre is expected to become the operational foundation of the digital State, where governance is data-driven, transparent and verifiable.

Governance will shift from administrative report-based management to real-time data-driven administration, enabling leaders to monitor socio-economic developments through a unified, predictive system.

For citizens and businesses, the principle will be “no need to resubmit information already available”. Administrative procedures will be automated, pre-filled from databases and personalised. Citizens will need only one digital identity to access all public services.

Beyond that, the centre will help shape a data economy, where open data, shared data and data services become new production resources while safeguarding sovereignty and privacy.

In essence, the National Data Centre aims to transform governance from procedure-based management to data-driven social governance, moving from reactive service to proactive, predictive administration, thereby building a modern, transparent, effective and efficient socialist rule-of-law State of Việt Nam. — VNS