HCM CITY – Developing standards systems in addition to connecting and sharing experiences with members will help APEC economies successfully develop smart cities, heard a workshop on “Best practices sharing of standards and conformity assessment implementation on smart cities in APEC region” held in HCM City yesterday.

Hosted by Việt Nam’s Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality (STAMEQ), the conference was one of the first two of the Sub-committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) on the opening day of SOM 3.

The workshop, an initiative by Việt Nam that was approved at SOM 1, aimed at connecting APEC members and promoting and sharing the application of standards and conformity assessment of products, services and management systems related to the sustainable development of smart cities in APEC.

More than 100 delegates took part in it.

Opening the workshop, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Trần Văn Tùng said one of the SCSC’s priorities this year was “development and promotion of standards and supporting the digital economy.”

This is a new sector in which the bloc needs to work together to share best practices, identify opportunities and challenges and boost co-operation, harmonise standards and assess conformity to help achieve the Bogor Goals, according to Tùng.

Việt Nam’s representatives delivered four speeches, including “Security and safety for smart cities”, “Việt Nam’s standardisation activities for smart city sectors” and “Viettel and the development of smart city in Việt Nam.”

At a series of panel and collaborative discussions, developing economies including Việt Nam, Thailand and the Philippines heard about the experiences of developed economies such as the US and Japan in developing smart cities and also the latest information about standards development for smart cities from leading international organisations.

Speaking to Việt Nam News on the sidelines of the workshop, Tùng said: “The workshop has clearly shown the connection between economies in which we together share and develop standards for developing smart cities.”

The conference is also important for Việt Nam since "it trails other economies in developing smart cities", he said.

"The workshop is a chance for Việt Nam to learn from other members for developing its own standards."

Calvin Kam, director, industry programmes, and consulting associate professor at Stanford University in the US, said: “APEC is an excellent opportunity because today it’s a very global and connected world, so I do believe that Việt Nam and the 20 other APEC economies can work together. I do think that just looking internally Việt Nam can better learn about standards and best building practices so that we do not repeat the same mistakes, and we can learn from global science, technology and innovation.”

He told Việt Nam News: “I do believe that Việt Nam can leap far. I would expect that with so much construction going on, higher productivity and also a more sustainable solution would be key to developing smart cities.”

Phạm Lê Cường, CEO of the Việt Nam Certification Centre, told Việt Nam News that the workshop sought to help people understand what a smart city is.

“Smart city is a city with stable development that uses recycled energy and has no traffic jams, etc.”

Over 20 provinces and cities in Viêt Nam have agreed to develop smart cities.

The second SCSC workshop was on “Facilitating trade in information and communications technologies products through encouragement of electronic labelling best practices.”

It focuses on e-labelling and the ICT sector, providing an overview of electronic labelling with a focus on emerging trends in e-labelling and the benefits of e-labelling for ICT trade, and highlight international standardisation efforts.

Lessons from Japan, Việt Nam and China were shared at the workshop.

It continues today. — VNS