Dear readers,

As the era of Industry 4.0 takes hold, the development of a knowledge-based economy has become an inexorable trend globally and in each and every country, with knowledge, data, and technology seen as foundations for growth models.

Knowledge, data, and technology-based growth is a model of economic development with progress and innovation resulting from the effective exploitation and application of these three elements to create added value and increase workplace productivity and competitiveness.

According to classical economic theory, productive forces include labor, the means of production, and capital. Nowadays, knowledge, data, especially big data, and technology are also considered components of productive forces, and are key factors in expanding production and business and improving productivity.

Economic growth, after all, results from successful production and business expansion and higher workplace productivity.

With its ultra-rapid development, technology accounts for an increasingly large proportion of each economic product, including services, meaning that it creates most of the value and characteristics of an economic product. In other words, economic products nowadays are not only purely material goods but also contain values of human knowledge and skills, as well as scientific and technological achievements.

Therefore, a growth model based on knowledge, data, and technology would be in full conformity with economic development practices in the era of Industry 4.0.

Based on these three elements, enterprises can successfully expand production, business, and service activities, improve their workplace productivity, create added value in each product and service, and increase their competitiveness, thereby contributing to the overall growth of the economy.

With that in mind, the Ho Chi Minh City Young Business Association (YBA), the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Startup Support Center, and IBP Vietnam jointly organized the InnoEx 2025 forum on August 21-22 in Ho Chi Minh City, with the theme “Shaping the Future Economy: From Data to Digital Assets”. Seen as Southeast Asia’s leading innovation forum and exhibition, InnoEx 2025 is not only a venue for businesses to share new technologies but also a setting for them to identify real opportunities for innovate thinking, restructuring their operations, and building sustainable digital assets, as a foundation for production and business development based on knowledge, data, and technology.

Our Cover Story in this edition therefore focuses on a growth model based on knowledge, data, and technology, with analysis of the role the three elements play in shaping the economy of the future - in keeping with the theme of InnoEx 2025 - and affirming the inexorable trend towards a new growth model that is based on knowledge, data, and technology.