Microsoft offers US$3 million for technology development in Vietnam

Microsoft on March 24 announced that the corporation will invest US$3 million in Vietnam in the next three years to organise classrooms on technology skill development, as well as offering job opportunities and business start-up skills for young people across the country.

Microsoft announces its YouthSpark initiative in Vietnam on March 24. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Under the YouthSpark initiative, the project focuses on three main areas: staff development, expanding investment in Vietnamese youth and supporting young leaders in the country. Vietnam is home to Microsoft’s mobile phone factory with over 10,000 employees located in northern Bac Ninh province. Part of the investment will be used to organise IT training courses for the factory workers.

Microsoft will co-operate with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), VietNet Information Technology and Communication Centre (VietNet-ICT) and Kenan Institute Asia to implement YouthSpark in Vietnam. In addition, Microsoft will also partner with VietNet-ICT to offer technology skills training to approximately 16,500 disadvantaged youth in Bac Ninh, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the next three years.

The company also plans to offer a variety of courses on basic technology skills, programming and computer science for thousands of young people, along with internship opportunities and scholarships.

President of Microsoft Asia Pacific, César Cernuda affirmed that Vietnam was an important emerging market of Microsoft in the region with a young and dynamic population and high social interaction. He said he expected that YouthSpark would empower the digital generation of Vietnam, to help create momentum for the country's technological and economic development.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong praised the importance of the scheme to Vietnam’s goal of becoming a country with an advanced IT sector by 2020, as well as to its industrialisation and modernisation process. As human resources are key to the success of the vision, the programme will help equip youth with necessary skills, particularly in technology, to serve their future careers.

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)