Deputy Chairman of Đà Nẵng City's People Council Trần Phước Sơn (right) receives the Seoul Smart City Prize at the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum in Seoul, Korea. — Photo courtesy of Đà Nẵng Information and Communications department

ĐÀ NẴNG — The central city has been awarded the Seoul Smart City Prize in the category of the Human Centricity bronze at the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum in Seoul, South Korea for member cities of the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO).

Deputy Director of the city’s information and communications department Trần Ngọc Thạch said the prize was given to the representative of the city’s People’s Council on September 26.

Thạch said it's the second regional smart city award that the city has won since it took the Asia-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation (Asocio) Smart City Award in Bangkok, Thailand in 2019.

This year's award recognised the endless efforts made by the city in boosting outstanding initiatives of building a smart city that focused on happiness, smart infrastructure, online public service, economic growth, education, and development research with human concentration.

The Seoul Smart City Prize promotes an innovative yet inclusive smart city model that looks after underprivileged groups. It also aims to narrow the gap between cities and commend those that strive to implement an innovative and inclusive model of smart city in their respective capabilities, given different municipal circumstances.

Đà Nẵng is a member of the 215-member list of the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) – a membership-based international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities through facilitating public-private partnerships (PPP) – and the ASEAN Smart Cities Network.

A report from the city’s information and communications department revealed that smartphone subscription accounted for 93 per cent of the population in Đà Nẵng, and 97 per cent of households are using a smartphone.

About 3.55 million accounts among those above 15 years old access cashless payment, while each resident owns at least two accounts on social networks attached with an identification (ID) code and health file.

Every school student was given an ID and digital school reports to facilitate education survey and quality control.

The city’s information technology and communications (ICT) industry also launched a digital ecology system including a multi-service mobile app and digital citizenship, including a smart trips platform, switchboard 1022, and Danamap for emergency calls.

Đà Nẵng has been developing itself as a 'smart city' by 2025 and is the first in Việt Nam to join the ASEAN 'smart' city network by 2030.

South Korea’s LG Electronics and Samsung have been cooperating with the city in promoting research, production, and education as well as electronics manufacturing. — VNS