On 30 January 2026, the Italy–Vietnam bilateral seminar “Low-Altitude Economy in Vietnam: Challenges Beyond Technology, Toward an Integrated Ecosystem” was held at Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment. The seminar focused on market access opportunities in Vietnam for Italian SMEs operating in services and infrastructure within the sector.
The initiative, organized in collaboration with the Italian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, the Italian Aerospace Network, and the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (HCMC–C4IR), followed the Italy–Vietnam bilateral Forum on Space Innovation held last December, which paved the way for dialogue on extending cooperation from space to low-altitude aerial applications.
Discussions during the seminar highlighted that the main market multiplier lies in defining rules for access to low-altitude airspace: licensing, liability, data governance, safety, and risk-based authorization models. “For Italian companies, and SMEs in particular, the competitive advantage does not lie in hardware, but in the ability to support the development of the regulatory and operational framework that enables services to scale,” emphasized Alessandra Tognonato, Consul General of Italy in Ho Chi Minh City.
In this context, the Italian ecosystem of aeronautical SMEs—structured around a network of highly specialized small and medium-sized enterprises—offers competencies that are immediately transferable in areas such as policy sandboxes, urban zoning, and public–private partnerships. These capabilities create favorable conditions for the entry of Italian companies into southern Vietnam and for the development of services that can be replicated on a national scale in Vietnam.
Challenges of low-level economic development in Vietnam | SAIGON LIBERATION NEWSPAPER
Spatial and data governance is the “key” to low-level economic development in Vietnam
