The Vietnam Smart City Awards 2020 honoured localities and firms for contributions to smart city development. (Photo courtesy of VINASA)Hanoi (VNA) - Digital technology had crept into all areas of smartcities and directly contributed to improving management efficiency and urbandevelopment.
Nguyen Huy Dung, deputy minister of information and communications, made thestatement at the 4th Smart City Summit 2020 held in Hanoi early this week.
Organised by the Vietnam Association for Software and IT Services (VINASA), theevent attracted some 1,000 attendants through virtual forms in 27 provinces andcities nationwide.
Dung said the project to develop smart and sustainable cities in Vietnam from2018-25 period with a vision to 2030 was approved by the Prime Minister inAugust 2018. The project clarifies principles for building smart cities in thecountry as well as key tasks for each period.
In addition, the national digital transformation programme by 2025 with avision to 2030 approved in June 2020 sets a target of developing a digitalGovernment, the economy and society while establishing local digital firms inthe world market.
He said the development of a smart city included the implementation of adigital government, digital economy and digital society.
Going "smart" was a development trend for all cities around the worldand the Vietnamese Government had always emphasised that the development ofsmart cities was a breakthrough necessary for improving nationalcompetitiveness.
He added that from a policy perspective, smart cities would be a place for thepilot implementation of new services, models and policies through the use ofnew digital technologies.
In recent years, the ministry had proactively co-ordinated with relevantministries, localities and several international agencies from Singapore andthe Republic of Korea to enhance smart city development, he added.
The 2020 Smart City Summit was a great opportunity for management agencies,experts, speakers and enterprises from home and abroad to share and contributetheir valuable experience in the building and development of smart cities, hesaid.
The MIC had promulgated an ICT reference framework for smart city developmentwhich was the basis for localities to build ICT architecture and deploy digitalinfrastructure for local smart city development.
Smart cities had been out front in applying the achievements of the FourthIndustrial Revolution, he said.
There were many important factors in developing a smart city. However,infrastructure, an ICT platform and digital technology were considered key.
The deputy minister committed to accompany localities and the digital businesscommunity in developing smart cities in Vietnam, thus contributing tonationwide digital transformation.
Truong Gia Binh, VINASA’s chairman, said smart cities were a vital trend and anoptimal solution to resolve the issues of rapid urbanisation. It would helpurban areas maximise resources towards sustainable development, while betterprotecting the environment.
“The building of smart cities needs the participation of the Government,authorities, businesses and people,” Binh said.
Experts said Vietnam had proactively joined smart city networks in the regionand around the world.
Vietnam has three cities that have joined the ASEAN smart city network since2018 and nearly 40 localities implementing smart city models.
However, experts also pointed out that the actual implementation showed therewere still many difficulties and challenges for city leaders, managementagencies and businesses.
Nguyen Nhat Quang, VINASA’s vice chairman and chairman of Hai Hoa SoftwareTechnology Company, said in the context of Industry 4.0, building smart citiesmeant integrating digital technology to build a livable city. Technicalsolutions must be combined with construction and management solutions tomaximise efficiency.
“The building of smart cities should ensure smart planning and follow technicalstandards,” Quang added.
Tran Quoc Thai, director of the Department for Urban Development under theMinistry of Construction, said they would focus on building a legal foundationand establishing and operating a database on digital urban spaces, whileapplying sustainable smart city planning./.
VNA
