National Scientific Conference "Data Services: From Responsible Business to Modern Legal Standards"

25 May, 2026

On May 21, 2026, at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), the Faculty of Law under the School of Economics, Law and Public Administration (CELG), in coordination with the Institute for Policy Studies and Media Development (IPS), organized a National Scientific Conference under the theme "Data Services: From Responsible Business to Modern Legal Standards." The conference attracted over 300 delegates, including policymakers, legal experts, economists, technology specialists, researchers, lecturers, lawyers, business representatives, graduate students, and students from various training institutions, research institutes, enterprises, and state management agencies across the country.

The conference took place against the backdrop of Vietnam accelerating digital transformation, developing a data economy, and applying artificial intelligence (AI), while also serving as a meaningful academic activity within the series commemorating the 50th anniversary of UEH (1976-2026) and the 25th anniversary of the UEH Faculty of Law (2001-2026).

In his opening speech, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Quang Hung – UEH President – emphasized that data has today become a strategic infrastructure of the modern economy, linked to national governance, innovation, human rights, and sustainable development. Therefore, issues concerning personal data protection, legal responsibility of technology enterprises, AI governance, algorithmic transparency, and data security require an interdisciplinary approach encompassing law, technology, economics, and public policy.

This year's conference continues to extend the research and policy connection series between UEH and IPS in the field of data law, AI, and digital technology. From topics on personal data (2023), trustworthy AI (2024), to the digital technology economy, law, and policy (2025), the series demonstrates an expanding research focus toward the data economy, sovereign AI, data transactions, ESG, green data, and national governance in the digital age.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Quang Hung delivering the opening speech at the conference

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Quang Hung – UEH President – presenting flowers and UEH appreciation gifts to Mr. Nguyen Quang Dong – Director of IPS – in recognition of the multi-year cooperation between CELG and IPS

Dr. Tran Thi Tuan Anh – Vice Rector of CELG – and Mr. Nguyen Quang Dong – Director of IPS – presenting flowers to the keynote speakers at the conference

At the plenary session, the Conference featured numerous in-depth presentations from policymakers, digital governance experts, and legal scholars.

Mr. Ho Duc Thang – full-time National Assembly representative on the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Social Affairs – presented a paper titled "Data for Vietnam's AI – From the Data Ocean to a Responsible Market." The paper raised several strategic issues for the future of Vietnam's AI, emphasizing that Vietnam's advantage in the AI race lies not only in competing with global super-models but also in Vietnam's sovereign data, including Vietnamese language data, legal, administrative, educational, healthcare, agricultural, cultural, and local data serving Vietnamese-specific problems. The report also warned of risks such as data bias, AI self-learning errors, and the requirement to build a responsible data market ensuring data that is "accurate – clean – diverse – contextualized – and has a responsible party".

Mr. Ho Duc Thang – full-time National Assembly representative on the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Social Affairs – presenting a paper titled "Data for Vietnam's AI – From the Data Ocean to a Responsible Market"

Ms. Vo Thi Trung Trinh – Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Center – presented the orientation for exploiting Data as a Service (DaaS) as a new growth driver for Ho Chi Minh City's digital economy in the 2026–2030 period. The report demonstrated a shift in governance thinking from a data model "stored in information oases" to a "data as a service" model, where data is connected, shared, and exploited to create tangible economic value for enterprises and society. Contents such as the strategy for building a city data platform, a real-time data ecosystem, an international financial center linked to digital assets, and the target of the digital economy accounting for approximately 40% of the city's GRDP by 2030 received significant attention at the conference.

Ms. Vo Thi Trung Trinh – Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Center – presenting a paper titled "Exploiting Data as a Service (DaaS) – A Driving Force for Ho Chi Minh City's Digital Economy Breakthrough in the 2026-2030 Period"

From a policy perspective, Ms. Tran Thi Tuyet – Policy Analyst at IPS – presented analyses and recommendations on data transactions and data market development in Vietnam. The report clarified data commercialization models such as selling raw data, selling data analytics, and selling data-based services, while raising fundamental questions about data valuation, rights to trade derivative data, ownership of aggregated data, and mechanisms for opening public data to promote innovation. One of the key messages of the report was that data transactions can only truly become a market when data is transferred, valued according to market mechanisms, and competition exists among multiple data providers.

Ms. Tran Thi Tuyet – Policy Analyst at IPS – presenting a paper titled "Establishing Foundations for Data Transactions in Vietnam: Policy Priorities and Recommendations"

Following the plenary session, the Conference continued with 10 parallel discussion sessions featuring nearly 100 scientific papers. The sessions covered various in-depth topics, including data law and data services; energy management law and energy economics in the data era; technology, innovation, and legal responsibility; legal responsibility and data risk management; law on data service business; public policy and orientations for improving data law; as well as sessions dedicated to young researchers on data, AI, and innovation.

The conference clearly reflects UEH's interdisciplinary academic development orientation in the field of law and digital technology. In recent years, the UEH Faculty of Law has adjusted and updated its training programs with new courses such as Personal Data Protection Law, Digital Technology Industry Law, AI and Law, Fintech Law, and Law on Digital Transformation to meet the human resource development needs of the legal sector for the digital economy and the business community.

Through the conference, UEH continues to affirm its role as a multidisciplinary research-oriented higher education institution, promoting connections between academia, public policy, and development practice. This is also UEH's practical contribution to the formation of modern legal standards for the data market and digital economy in Vietnam in the new phase.

Some other images from the conference: