HÀ NỘI — The ASOCIO Smart City Summit 2018 will be held in Hà Nội from September 18-19, themed “Creating Smarter and Securer Cities by Digital Solutions”.

The event will be organised by the People’s Committee of Hà Nội, the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation (ASOCIO) and the Việt Nam Software and IT Services (Vinasa). 

During the summit, delegates will share visions, strategies and experiences of smart urban building and collect opinions from managers and IT experts on smart urban management, planning and development based on new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality (AR). 

They will also discuss solutions to develop smart urban areas in Hà Nội and other Vietnamese cities, helping deal with pressing issues facing the localities regarding transport, urban areas, security, safety and environment. 

The summit will feature seminars on digital government and strategies to build smart cities, and smarter cities with less cash transactions; along with sections on infrastructure, platform – principles for smart city, data driven city – data analysis & urban planning and smart industries.

In early August 2018, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc approved a project to develop sustainable and smart cities. 

Until 2020, the project will work to build a legal basis for sustainable and smart city development, issue policies and mechanisms applied to the regions subject to pilot implementation, build and pilot the application of the ICT framework on smart city development, develop the GIS-based urban space data infrastructure, and build a national city database.

By 2025, the first phase of the pilot implementation of smart city development will be carried out. It is expected to be completed by 2030.

Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng City, HCM City and Cần Thơ City will be chosen to be the core of smart city networks in the northern, central, southern and Mekong Delta regions, respectively. Hà Nội is home to nearly eight million people, with an average density of more than 2,279 people per sq.km, even 42,000 people per sq.km in some districts. 

The municipal People’s Council has also issued a resolution on building a smart city, via the adjustment to the “Programme of applying information technologies in State agencies’ in Hà Nội from 2016-20.  

The budget for implementing the programme was lifted to VNĐ3 trillion (more than US$127.7 million) from VNĐ1.25 trillion, creating a foundation for Hà Nội to promote socio-economic development and become a smart city. — VNS