Đà Nẵng’s plan to get ‘smart’

Nguyễn Quang Thanh, director of the Đà Nẵng Department of Information and Communication, talks to Nhân dân (People) newspaper on Đà Nẵng’s plan to transform into a smart city. Đà Nẵng set a target to become the nation’s first smart city. What has the city done so far to achieve this goal? Đà Nẵng launched a series of programmes starting in 2012 designed to upgrade the city’s technical infrastructure. To that end, we made use of human resources and financial assistance from various agencies, including foreign organisations. From the start, city authorities have co-ordinated with IBM. It did not take long before Vietnamese IT groups like Viettel, VNPT and FPT joined in, and international companies including the World Bank and JICA soon followed. Foreign and domestic partners have expressed their desire to help us make Đà Nẵng the first Smart City in Việt Nam. What has Đà Nẵng done to make this concept a reality? The first thing the city must do is win the support of people from all walks of life. Then we can ask for their input on how to improve the city. We have introduced new models in some key economic and social areas, including transportation education health care, the environment and food safety. It is noteworthy that Đà Nẵng has started to develop a common data system for the education sector, including school administration software. The goal is to gradually establish a database for students and teachers. When it comes to food safety, we have… [Read full story]