The Intelligent Operation Centre situated at Becamex Bình Dương in HCM City contributes to monitoring local urban issues. — Photo www.sggp.org.vn

HCM CITY — HCM City plans to commercialise its vast centralised databases through data-as-a-service models to drive its digital economy, which it wants to account for 40 per cent of its economy by 2030.

The southern metropolis has spent years building comprehensive datasets on population, land, healthcare, education, urban planning, and public services.

These are now considered a "golden” resource for the development of innovative business models.

The city’s strategic shift was a central topic at a national scientific conference titled "Data services: From responsible business to modern legal standards,” held last week.

The event was organised by the University of Economics HCM City and the Institute for Policy Studies and Media Development.

Speaking at the event, Hồ Đức Thắng, a member of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture and Social Affairs, highlighted a global "data paradox".

While worldwide data volume is growing exponentially—expected to reach 181 zettabytes by 2025—truly clean and AI-ready data remains extremely scarce, with only about 2 per cent of data actually retained.

Thắng said data has become the “means of production” in the artificial intelligence (AI) era, drawing a parallel to the role of land during the agricultural age.

“Whatever is not digitised will be absent from AI’s memory,” he said, noting that a lack of digitalisation could lead to the erosion of Vietnamese language, culture, and indigenous knowledge in the digital sphere.

While Việt Nam could find it challenging to compete directly with global tech giants in developing massive, foundational AI models, the country holds a distinct advantage in “sovereign data,” he pointed out.

This includes local language resources, domestic legal frameworks, healthcare, education, and cultural insights.

He said the data services market extends far beyond trading raw data. It encompasses a sophisticated ecosystem of data cleaning, standardisation, labelling, testing, and auditing.

To foster responsible innovation, he urged the Government to establish clear legal frameworks that separate personal and sensitive data ("red zones") from non-personal and open data ("green zones").

New growth engine

Võ Thị Trung Trinh, director of the city Digital Transformation Center, said shifting from mere data storage to active data services would create a new growth driver for the urban digital economy.

Ready-to-integrate data would unlock significant value for both local businesses and communities.

“Data-driven insights will help optimise resources and significantly reduce time and costs, particularly in public services, smart logistics, and international financial centres linked to digital assets.”

To achieve its 2030 digital targets, the city has outlined a comprehensive development roadmap.

In 2026, it will focus on standardising and cleaning its core datasets.

The following year, it plans to start trialling a dedicated data exchange platform.

By 2028, local authorities aim to connect data infrastructure across the entire southern key economic region.

Finally, the city expects to achieve comprehensive smart governance driven by AI and data-as-a-service by 2030.

It plans to heavily leverage cloud computing and AI to process large-scale data and establish shared data warehouses.

The conference also featured 10 discussion sessions with around 100 scientific presentations covering data protection, AI liability, risk management, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors in the data economy.

Notably, three sessions were dedicated to young researchers and students, aiming to foster the next generation of legal and digital scholars in the country. — VNS