Creating breakthroughs for industrial development

Dong Nai's industrial sector has built a strong production base, but it now faces the need to enter a new stage of development: shifting from processing and assembly to manufacturing and technological self-reliance; from higher output to greater productivity and added value; and from resource-intensive production to green and smart manufacturing.

The 2025 Vietnam-Japan Business Networking Conference in Dong Nai.

Creating breakthroughs requires more than attracting new projects. More importantly, Dong Nai needs to modernize its existing industrial base, upgrade domestic enterprises, attract advanced technologies, and build new production capabilities.

Modernizing the local industrial foundation

Industry is one of the main pillars of Dong Nai's economy. After years of attracting investment and expanding production, the city has developed a diverse industrial base, ranging from mechanical engineering and manufacturing, electrical and electronics production, and vehicle manufacturing to chemicals, food processing, and supporting industries.

However, a large industrial scale does not necessarily mean strong technological capabilities. Some enterprises remain concentrated in relatively low-value-added stages of production, while their capacity for research, design, new product development, and technological mastery remains limited. Linkages between domestic enterprises and FDI groups have improved but have yet to develop into deep, extensive supply networks.

Dong Nai's Supporting Industry Development Program for 2026-2030, with a vision through 2035, aims to raise the output value of supporting industries to around 22-25% of the city's total industrial production value. The city also seeks to develop enterprises that meet international standards and to establish multi-tiered supply networks connecting domestic firms with multinational corporations and FDI enterprises.

Addressing this issue is essential if Dong Nai is to make a qualitative leap in industrial development. In today's environment, advantages in labor and production costs are no longer enough to sustain long-term competitiveness. Global supply chains are imposing increasingly stringent requirements on technology, quality, traceability, environmental standards, delivery capacity, and product innovation.

In mechanical engineering and manufacturing, the focus needs to shift from simple processing to the production of machinery, equipment, molds, and high-precision components. In electronics, growth potential lies not only in assembly but also in moving toward the production of components, modules, specialized electronic equipment, and other stages involving higher technical content. In vehicle manufacturing, the localization rate needs to be increased, alongside the development of components, spare parts, electrical and electronic systems, and control systems. For textiles, garments, footwear, and leather goods, innovation must extend beyond machinery to include new materials, water and energy conservation, emissions reduction, digitalized design and order management, as green standards are becoming an increasingly important requirement for maintaining access to export markets.

Likewise, other manufacturing sectors, including agricultural and forestry product processing and food processing, need to gradually upgrade their technologies, move toward deeper processing, invest in preservation technologies and automation, and develop branded products rather than relying primarily on raw-material advantages.

According to Nguyen Kim Long, Permanent Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee, Dong Nai has moved beyond the stage of attracting FDI at all costs. The city has decided to shift toward a new-generation industrial development model with stricter screening criteria. It also, frankly, recognizes the lessons from its previous period of rapid growth, including pressures on the environment, social welfare, and transport infrastructure, and is adjusting its development objectives accordingly.

Bringing enterprises into supply chains

In response to these requirements, Dong Nai introduced a technology innovation roadmap in early 2026 for key economic sectors through 2035. The roadmap identifies core technologies capable of driving breakthroughs, market demand at home and abroad, and the city's future capacity to access them.

Production at a supporting-industry enterprise in Trang Dai Ward.

Accordingly, Dong Nai aims to identify core technologies capable of creating breakthroughs in key industries and economic sectors, including artificial intelligence (AI); biotechnology and advanced healthcare; renewable energy and green technologies; environmental technologies; education technology and digital entertainment; smart transport, logistics, and transportation technologies; semiconductors and microchips; processing and manufacturing technologies; and high-tech agriculture. By 2030, the city aims to gradually develop and deploy core technologies, strengthen enterprises' technological innovation capabilities, and increase the share of value added in industrial production. By 2035, key economic sectors are expected to gain leading positions in selected fields, undergo substantial technological transformation, better tap into domestic and international market demand, and improve their ability to access and master breakthrough technologies.

Dong Nai's new growth model is built around science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation as its key drivers. The city's Department of Science and Technology is conducting surveys and assessments of enterprises' technological capabilities, capacity to absorb technology, and innovation needs. According to Vo Hoang Khai, Deputy Director of the department, this is a crucial step because effective innovation requires a clear understanding of where enterprises are weak, what technologies they lack, and how much technology they can absorb, so that appropriate solutions can be devised to address these shortcomings.

In reality, Dong Nai has major advantages, including its large manufacturing base and numerous FDI groups. However, turning these advantages into indigenous industrial capabilities requires more Vietnamese enterprises capable of supplying components, spare parts, raw materials, and technical services that meet international standards.

The way enterprises are supported also needs to change. Dang Quoc Nghi, Chairman of the Dong Nai Young Entrepreneurs Association, proposed that the city select local enterprises with the potential to dominate specific niches within three to five years and provide them with targeted support. Such niches could include sensors for factories, aviation components, production equipment, water treatment technologies, green packaging materials, deep processing of specific agricultural products, industrial park management software, or specialized airport services. At the same time, authorities, FDI enterprises, and major corporations should make their actual needs public, giving Vietnamese enterprises opportunities to propose solutions, conduct trials, and gradually establish partnerships and enter manufacturing supply chains.

By V.The – Translated by M.Nguyet, Minho