Microsoft’s pursuit to build digital future foundations

A good deal of production and work around the globe would be unimaginable without Microsoft’s products which are enabling entire industries to improve productivity. What do you see as Microsoft’s mission in the 21st century?

Anthony Salcito, vice president, Public Sector and Government at Microsoft Worldwide

This almost hits on our core mission as a company, to help empower every person and every institution on the planet to achieve more. We do this through small- and medium-sized enterprises and large businesses in every country and every economy around the world through bringing the power of technology to help unlock human potential. We start very small with students to help them, lift their expectations of how they can drive their talent to solve modern day problems, helping businesses connect and connect data to solve challenges, and then help governments bringbetter digital services to all.

Microsoft works towards this mission across everything that we do across the company and we are living through incredible times where the promise of technology is being met with great innovation across advancements in things like cloud computing, big data, and AI that are really bringing the promise of technology to real innovation.

Microsoft is currently working closely with the Vietnamese government on a Build-Protect-Educate model. Can you share what the pillars of this co-operation will involve?

This is a part of the Vietnamese government’s desire to transform and create, not only bringing economic stability and sustainability for the country but bring improved services to citizens. Microsoft is partnering with the government in three core fields – build, protect, and educate.

The build side is all about how we enhance the citizen services that are provided, whether its improved transport or services to digitise transactions, bringing much more modern experiences to Vietnam.

Protect is about helping to protect citizens, starting with very young children and all the way through advanced citizens across the cities and country of Vietnam – while keeping data safe throughout all this. Protect is not only about helping keep our people safe, protecting the data that the government is dealing with is also key.

Lastly, and most importantly in many cases,we will work to create a foundation for digital future by empowering students in the classrooms to fuel their passion for industry, connecting their skills and talents with the workforce opportunities that are coming forward to not only fill the jobs that exist today but create new industries and capacity, helping educate all citizens with a foundation of digital literacy, which is going to be critical for the future.

Microsoft and the government chose build, protect, educate as our focus going forward, and Microsoft has long-term plans across all of them. For example, we recently announced with the Ministry of Public Security that we have created an app called Hotline 111, where citizens can report incidents on child abuse.

Hotline 111 is available on the Android and iOS platforms. You can download the application and anytime you see or have concerns about abuse, you can file a report, just like you would do by dialing 111.

The devices that all of us have in our hands can help enable citizens to easily provide insight to government officials to fight against abuse.If you can expand the voice and the impact of citizens, you can drive great change.

We are working on a range of initiatives and I think you’ll see a number of initiatives across each of these three pillars over the coming years as we work with the government.

What other possible areas of co-operation do you foresee with the Vietnamese government?

One of the big areas that I am very passionate about is the work on educating. We are going to be meeting with some amazing educators across the country, both digitally and physically here in Hanoi. The power and foundation of the future starts in the classroom. This is a strength of Vietnam, with the power of and the focus on educators and the talent within the students.

We have to enable those students to unleash their voice, to get connected to the capabilities and skills needed for the modern workforce. Microsoft is investing a lot in providing tools to help get students trained and ready for this new world.

Our projects involve everything from courses and certifications through helping students get job-ready in this new economy and to helping students see the world differently with tools like Minecraft. We enable all this through the great work we do with educators and school leaders to support their transformation and transition into this new way of teaching and learning.

Do you have any education initiatives underway, complete with Vietnamese universities?

One of the things that we are doing is leveraging the curriculum we provide on the Microsoft Learn platform. Many universities take advantage of the curriculum courseware that we made available for free to get trained and ready on things like Microsoft Cloud Data Analytics AI.

Many of the students in Vietnam participate in the Imagine Cup, where they set themselves to solve big challenges around the world. We have just launched Imagine Cup Junior for students in elementary and secondary schools to use the power of AI for good.

We have just finished a cup. Last week was the Hour of Code initiative that took place around the world. I think about 700 million students participated in the Hour of Code, which was focused on Minecraft connected to AI for good, and a good percentage of them took advantage of the Microsoft curriculum. These are the foundations that we will be using for our Imagine Cup Junior challenge which I know will draw the participation of many students.

Vietnam is investing one of the highest percentages of GDP into infrastructure in Southeast Asia. In what ways do you think that Microsoft could help Vietnam in this area?

This is an area where we have effected tremendous innovation, with many examples around the cities around the world. I have just attended Smart City Expo in Barcelona a few weeks ago, where cities from around the world gathered to share their innovation and projects. We have been working with many of the world's largest, most complex cities on bringing things like transportation services to citizens as they try to build themselves into smart cities.

The foundation of transportation needs to be addressed first because people are not going to feel their city is smart if they are stuck in traffic or are waiting for the bus. There are ways for technology and sensors to enable transportation to be not only much more efficient, but more inclusive, to help passengers who may have loss of eyesight, for instance, to participate in the transit system. Technology is enabling a much more balanced and efficient infrastructure.

We are also thinking about digital services around the likes of tolls and bridges to help keep infrastructure safe and regulated. Technology and sensors can be used in a multitude of ways across the environment. For instance, many public safety officials are using cameras and sensors for digital private solving. Microsoft is working with many of the world's greatest and largest cities to bring technology to serve Citizen Services.

What opportunities do you see for Microsoft itself in Vietnam’s digital revolution?

As our mission to help enable people, technology is going to play a great role. We have got to start by building the future in classrooms. We need students in Vietnam to fuel the country’s future, the economy, and companies large and small to grow.

We certainly know the value of the workforce in education, which can really drive and change the future. We certainly also see benefits for Microsoft, such as learning from the innovations that are taking place across Vietnam to help get smarter and better as we support other countries around the world. We want to work with dynamic countries, governments that are embracing innovation, as part of our commitment as a learning company to learn and enhance our services based on the activities and partnerships that we have.

One of the things I am excited about our partnership with the Vietnamese government is that we will have an open dialogue and will learn lessons from the work that we do together that will hopefully help us in other parts of the world to provide better services and support.

In which areas do you envision more co-operation with the authorities in Vietnam? Which areas do you think this co-operation could be extended to and which are the most urgent areas that need attention?

There is a tremendous need for partnership, and frankly, as governments digitise services for citizens, they are going to require lots of partners that bring technology expertise and operable solutions across the wide range of government services. This is going to require training and readying the government staff and agencies for foundational changes. We certainly see a need for companies like Microsoft to partner deeply with education institutions, universities, and schools to create a foundation for the future, providing partnerships to enable students to get ready with the skills needed for the changing workforce. And that is something that Microsoft takes great pride in: the work that we do for schools and education.

That are top of mind for us from an engagement standpoint, as it relates to the Protect side – one of the things that Microsoft has really been focusing on is being transparent as a company that's built on trust. Additionally, we have been working with governments to appropriately regulate the use of digital tools, data, and AI. It is important for governments to have a mindfulness about the ways in which data and AI are used across Citizen Services used by other companies. And certainly, Microsoft has been helping governments educate and get informed on the kind of foundations that they should put in place with ethical and responsible use of data and AI.