IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

HCMC has been attempting to develop into a smart city with the front solution of applying technologies to solve urgent issues, needing the community especially Vietnamese technology businesses to join hands and provide specific solutions and willing to give them financial assistance to develop products for the purpose, said deputy chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen at a Friday meeting.

With the strong development of science and technology, some localities in Việt Nam are in a rush to make changes and become smart cities.

According to a United Nations report released in November, the e-government development index of Việt Nam had risen five places in the past five years, making Việt Nam one the top countries for e-government development.

The ICT (information and communication technology) reference framework for the development of smart cities (version 1.0) has been issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications as a basis for localities and businesses to develop smart city projects.

The ICT reference framework is a set of functions to link smart regions, applications, and urban services to ensure consistency and synchronisation in smart city development, according to Decision 829/QĐ-BTTTT on the ICT reference framework issued on May 31 by the Ministry of Information and Communication.

The coastal city of Danang in Vietnam, is famed for its white sandy beaches and idyllic resorts and is Vietnam’s fifth largest city. Home to more than a million residents, the city is rapidly urbanising and its population is set to more than double to 2.5 million by 2030.

Danang joins 25 other pilot cities from member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as part of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN). Set to be officially launched in November 2018 during the 33rd ASEAN Summit in Singapore, the ASCN envisions a collaborative platform for cities in the network to work towards a common goal of smart and sustainable development.

The central coastal city of Da Nang is making strides towards turning itself into an eco-smart urban area, a hub for startups and innovation, and one of the most liveable cities in Asia by 2045 under its smart city development project announced at a conference on April 10.

According to Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Trung Chinh, the project is being carried out to realise the Politburo’s Decree No.43/NQ-TW on the city’s development until 2030 with vision to 2045.

As many regions in Vietnam are now on their way to enthusiastically establish their own smart city and e-government models, certain difficulties have been identified and required timely sensible solutions.

Resolution No.52 issued on September 27, 2019 by the Politburo on policies to actively participate in Industry 4.0 clearly states that until 2025, there will be at least three smart cities in the three key economic regions in the North, Central, and the South, with the further aim of having a chain of smart cities in these regions, closely connecting to other smart cities in the world.

Foreign experts presented solutions to turn Ho Chi Minh City into a smart urban area at a conference held by the municipal People’s Committee on June 13.

The proposed solutions focused on general architecture framework, information-technology foundation, smart city management centre, traffic, education, health care, natural resources-environment, tourism, emergency operation centres and cyber security, among others.

Ranking among the world’s largest capitals and with a population of around 7.6 million, Hà Nội seems to be almost bursting at the seams with unceasing traffic and chaotic hubbub.

The 1000-year-old capital of Việt Nam is a lot of things — its cultural quirks, historical richness and economic vitality might be fascinating; but most wouldn’t consider it an ‘organised’ city, in the sense of modern urban centres that have come to characterise much of the developed, post-industrial economies.

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung met on February 5 with Marten van den Berg, Director General for Foreign Economic Relations at the Netherlands’ Foreign Ministry, calling for more support in smart city building.

At the meeting in Hanoi, the Dutch official affirmed that his country always wants bilateral relations, especially those between the two capital cities, to become stronger.

Hanoi is determined to build a people-centered and business-oriented smart city by 2030, said Permanent Vice Chairman of the Hanoi City People’s Committee Nguyen Van Suu during the sixth World Cities Summit (WCS) 2018 held in Singapore on July 9.

Suu talked about the vision and strategy for smart cities alongside the e-government methods of Vietnam, and Hanoi in particular.

Both Hanoi and HCM City received a rather poor scores of CCC in the Technology aspect, while in terms of Structures, the capital city Hanoi fared a little better than the southern economic center (CC compared to CCC).

Hanoi earned the 97th position in a global smart city ranking, up three places compared to last year, while HCM City slid down two places to 105th.

Talking on the sidelines of a seminar on "Building a Smarter City" held on November 22, Mr. Van Dong, director of the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications, said Hanoi's goal is to become the pioneer in the application and development of information technology.

Amid growing interest from domestic and international businesses, Hanoi will create new opportunities for private investors to join public service projects as a way to raise funds for its ambitious smart city development plans.

Nguyen Duc Chung, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, said that the capital is poised to become a smart city based on key technologies of Industry 4.0. To this end, besides state funding, the city will have to raise resources from the business community.

Hanoi’s authority has exchanged experience with the world’s leading smart city authorities as well as IT corporations

Hanoi has developed a strategy and roadmap to build smart city by 2025, along with the project titled “The smart city ICT architecture for Hanoi”. Hanoi is developing this smart city with the goal of building an e-government.

The Ho Chi Minh City Computer Association (HCA) and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), on July 27, signed a memorandum of understanding on the exchange of technology, experience and solutions relating to smart city development.

Accordingly, the two sides will promote liaisons that involve market information and partnership opportunities. They will inform and support each other’s goods promotion at trade fairs and exhibitions, as well as organise exchanges and workshops for companies of both sides and carry out joint market studies.

Ho Chi Minh City’s authorities are planning to use artificial intelligence (AI) to support its scheme to develop a smart city, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said.

Though HCM City has applied AI technologies in a number of sectors, it lags behind other cities in the world in AI research and training, Phong told a seminar on AI research and application on March 20, elaborating that the city lacks AI experts, scientists and policymakers.

The head of HCM City's Department of Information and Communication said the city was in the process of setting up an e-government that would play a critical role in building a "smart" city through information and communication technology (ICT).

Le Thai Hy said the smart city would improve residents' quality of life by efficiently managing traffic, power, healthcare and environmental systems, including waste treatment.

Hy spoke at a conference on smart cities on Wednesday (July 8) in HCM City organised by the department and Sao Bac Dau Technologies Corporation.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee hosted a conference on September 15 to call for investment in building an Intelligent Operations Centre (IOC) and a Socio-Economic Simulation and Forecast Centre.

The two centres are among the key measures in a master plan on developing Ho Chi Minh City into a smart city in the 2017-2020 period, with a vision to 2025.

ver 500 delegates, from countries and territories throughout the world, that have experience in smart urban development joined local authorities and IT experts at an international seminar on the theme, which opened in Ho Chi Minh City, on October 25.

Hosted by the city’s Department of Information and Communications, in collaboration with Vietnam Software and IT Services Association (VINASA) and Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation (ASOCIO), the Smart City 2017 event aims to share visions, strategies and experience on smart urban construction, while delivering smart urban development solutions and planning based on advanced technologies, such as IoT and Big Data.

Ho Chi Minh City should learn from major cities in developed countries on how to become a smart city, an international conference was told on Friday.

Nearly 200 delegates from Thailand, the US, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, discussed ways the largest city in Vietnam could become a smart city.