Vietnam-Japan Tech Firms Shifted to Co-Creation Model
Digital technology firms are moving away from simple outsourcing toward joint product development to scale high-value chains.
Updated on Oct. 2, 2026 in Remote Work
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At the 2026 Vietnam-Japan Digital Forum, industry leaders announced a shift in their bilateral cooperation model from traditional outsourcing to collaborative co-creation. This new approach aims to address legacy system integration and expand the global market reach of co-developed intellectual property.
Why it matters
The pivot allows Japanese firms to integrate new technologies with legacy infrastructure while enabling Vietnamese partners to move up the value chain from service providers to equity-bearing product developers. This strategy is designed to boost productivity and research capabilities by jointly identifying and solving technical problems.
The forum convened more than 250 senior executives and facilitated over 100 one-to-one business matching sessions. While the move aims to modernize operations, it remains to be seen how current service revenue—often indexed to headcount—will transition to profit-sharing models for joint IP.
The players
Miichisoft
A technology services firm that provides software development and digital transformation solutions.
Taisei Oncho
A Japanese engineering company specializing in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.
VTI Japan
A technology solutions provider that partners with enterprises to facilitate digital transformation.
NEC
A multinational technology corporation that focuses on IT and network solutions, including infrastructure integration.
The details
Companies are abandoning rigid requirement-based outsourcing in favor of a co-design model that preserves technological capabilities on both sides. By jointly developing software, firms can share the intellectual property risks and rewards of new products. This operational integration requires deeper collaboration than standard contract work, as partners must align their engineering workflows to modernize legacy systems while protecting proprietary data.
Timeline
October 2, 2026: The Vietnam-Japan Digital Forum 2026 took place in Tokyo.
Market Landscape
This development marks a definitive move away from the traditional model of transactional IT outsourcing that dominated the last decade. It aligns with broader industry efforts to move beyond simple cost-arbitrage, favoring deep engineering integration to manage complex legacy systems.
Business owners should reevaluate vendor contracts to determine if current outsourcing arrangements can transition to co-development models. Watch for shifts in service-level agreements as partners move from delivering defined tasks to sharing joint ownership of new IP.
The takeaway
The move to co-creation enables firms to capture more value by embedding their teams directly into product strategy. Operators should audit their current technology vendors to identify opportunities for joint development that could modernize legacy systems more efficiently than standard outsourcing.
Further reading
For more on managing distributed engineering teams, see our coverage of Remote Work.
Source note: This article includes information reported by VOV - VOV Online Newspaper.
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Should nations prioritize co-creation partnerships over traditional outsourcing to grow their local technology sectors?
