WUSME at Workshop on Trends in the Development of Traditional Craft Villages in the Industry 4.0 Era in Vietnam

October 4^th, 2019 – WUSME took part in the “Workshop on Trends in the Development of Traditional Craft Villages in the Industry 4.0 Era” held in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on October 2th and 4^th 2019.

Ms. Nukila Evanty, WUSME Member of the Permanent Commission on Social Issues & Women Entrepreneurship, attended the event on behalf of the Union of Small and Medium Enterprises.

The seminar was organized by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Support Center 2 (SMEDEC 2) in collaboration with the Asia Productivity Organization (APO), to promote effective ways to increase and guarantee sustainability, profitability and competitiveness of artisan villages by exploiting technological advances and adopting business model innovations.

Experts and representatives from various countries discussed and assessed the current status and challenges that traditional artisan villages are facing in the era of Industry 4.0, proposing solutions for their development in Vietnam, in particular, and in member countries of the Asia Productivity Organization in general.

Among the speakers Ms. Nukila Evanty, who specifically brought the example of Indonesia. “Handicrafts in Indonesia have the potential to develop business and the economy of their local community- she stressed. SMEs contributed 57.12% to gross domestic product (GDP). The government has committed to improve Indonesia’s competitiveness from 41st to 39th in the world from 138 countries listed in the 2016-2017 Global Competitiveness Report. To achieve this goal, one of the solutions being pushed by the Ministry of Industry is to spur domestic industries to continue to innovate respect to  the Industry 4.0 implementation”.

In her final recommendations, Ms. Evanty expressed that “attention must be given to SMEs in handcraft for the challenge and the potential to be developed”, stressing that “a synergy and collaboration between government, SMEs business community, media, IT industry, association of SMEs and national and international universities are needed”.

Consistent with its mission, WUSME is committed to improving and supporting the world of Small and Medium Enterprises, the driving force of the economy, growing and evolving. In terms of 4.0, internationalization, digitalization, technology and innovation represent, in fact, the way to the development, competitiveness and sustainability of SMEs and Crafts sector.

Photo No.1: Ms. Nukila Evanty, WUSME Member of the Permanent Commission on Social Issues & Women Entrepreneurship

Photo No.2: Representatives of the countries attended the Workshop