A new Vietnam IT Industry Index that will process IT production, services and business information was introduced on Wednesday. — Photo ictdanang.vn

HÀ NỘI — A new Vietnam IT Industry Index that will process IT production, services and business information was introduced on Wednesday.

The introduction was made by the Department of Information Technology under the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Việt Nam Association for Information Processing.

According to the newly-launched index, first place in the general ranking was taken by Hà Nội, followed by HCM City, Bắc Ninh, Thái Nguyên and Đà Nẵng.

In component indices including services and business, Hà Nội and HCM City took the lead. Meanwhile, Bắc Ninh was ranked first on the IT production index, followed by Thái Nguyên, Hà Nội and HCM City.

In terms of the Vietnam ICT Index which is being compiled for the 11th year, the Ministry of Information and Communications said changes have been made to improve the Vietnam ICT Index 2016 .

Đà Nẵng last year continued to lead the Vietnam ICT Index with 0.8321 points. Hà Nội jumped one place over last year to take second position, pushing HCM City to third place. The other localities in the top five are Quảng Ninh and Thừa Thiên Huế provinces.

The three last positions in the index were taken by Lạng Sơn, Bạc Liêu and Điện Biên respectively.

The ICT Index report also ranked ministries with public services. The Ministry of Finance had the highest ICT Index with 0.8075 points, followed by the State Bank of Việt Nam and the Ministry of Education and Training.

While the top two agencies saw no changes in position compared to 2015, the Ministry of Education and Training jumped nine notches from 12th to third place.

For government agencies that do not have public services, Vietnam Television ranked first with 0.5879 points, followed by Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. 

The indices are structured following the United Nations standard, which consists of three main components: technical infrastructure, human resources and IT application. The index has eliminated “inappropriate” indicators and included new ones in order to promote e-government, the Ministry said.

"This has significant meaning because the information technology industry is playing an increasingly important role in the economy, including export value, jobs and its contribution to the State budget," said Đào Đình Khả, director of the Department of Information Technology.

“This indicator will also help assess the actual state of the country’s IT industry and help localities identify their IT development potential, and from thereon, help formulate a development strategy for the industry," Khả added. — VNS