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The Hanoitimes - Hanoi will focus on researching, applying, and developing sustainable smart urban planning. The construction of smart cities must be conducted in a structured manner in accordance with the planning, Kinh te & Do thi quoted Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tuong Van as saying. “The successful experience of many countries shows that building tools to manage urban development on the basis of planning and integrating these contents into the urbanization strategy should be seen as a focal issue,” Mr. Van said. Smart urban development management needs to follow a roadmap to gradually optimize urban development management, improve life quality of urban residents, and create opportunities for human development, the deputy minister emphasized. Hanoi is developing day by day. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn According to Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture Nguyen Trong Ky Anh, over the past time, huge works on urban planning appraisal have been fulfilled, but still failed to meet the progress. Mr. Ky Anh said that the above-mentioned limitation is due to insufficient application of information technology which has only helped the city monitor the quantity, status and administrative procedures of the planning projects. Given these shortcomings, more than ever, accelerating the development of smart cities and the application of new technologies in Industrial Revolution 4.0 to urban planning and management is imperative for Hanoi today. Five core solutions For setting the strategic orientations and planning vision to connect new urban areas with metropolitan areas in the context of Industry 4.0, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Doan Toan said that the city has identified five groups of issues to be dealt with. Among them, the top priority is to promote the application of smart technology in urban development planning and management. Accordingly, the city will develop …

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According to the comprehensive plan to develop the IT human resources, Vietnam needed 1 million workers in the IT field in 2020. Yet the reality shows that there are only 600,000 IT students being trained in 400 higher educational institutes and 8 key IT training centers nationwide. Statistics from the Institute of Information Technology Strategy (under the Ministry of Information & Communications) show that 72 percent of IT students lack practical experience, while 42 percent are weak at team work. Only 15 percent of IT graduates satisfy the demands of employers. Vietnam now has over 700 IT companies working in key fields of the IT industry, including 220 foreign ones. They mostly locate in major cities or software parks. Notably, despite a high job potential, the AI field still attracts little attention from both learners and trainers. There is no formal university department or school to specifically provide tertiary education in this field. Most curriculum focus on software developing, which is a rather old trend of the previous decade. This calls for a serious curriculum redesign to answer the current needs of IT companies, both domestic and international. There should be an establishment of AI departments in universities or the development of such majors as computer vision, natural language processing, Big Data, robotics. Tertiary educational institutes should cooperate with IT businesses for internship programs, career guiding fairs, academic challenges, and training equipment provision (like server clusters, computing clusters, GPU, robots, IoT devices). Experts voiced that in order for HCMC to own sufficient core AI human resources, the municipal authorities must first identify the market needs and the ability to apply research result in reality. They then have to actively link the development of smart city, innovative urban areas with the growth of talented AI employees. These actions will gradually form a complete AI ecosystem so that HCMC …

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The long process of project approval from competent government agencies and the serious impact of COVID-19 have helped mergers and acquisitions in real estate sector become more active. A recent report released by VNDirect Securities Corporation stated that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals, especially in transferring part of large-scale real estate projects, were considered one of the fastest solutions for foreign developers when they want to jump into the Vietnamese real estate market, as well as for the domestic developers expanding their land fund and investment portfolios. This report also cited that some projects from giant developers are currently in the negotiation process with most expected to be completed this year. “Thanks to the improvement of the legal system in the Law on Investment, a range of deals will be done within this year with total value up to more than $1 billion,” the report cited. According to Tran Khanh Hien, deputy director of the Research at VNDirect, the real estate market in 2021 will be step-by-step resumed at its active level, based on the economic recovery, rising housing demand, and increased supply due to a range of projects that will be permitted to continue after long delays to review procedures. The Gem Riverside, funded by domestic developers Dat Xanh Group, and the Eco-smart city at Thu Thiem from South Korea’s Lotte Group, are among those looking to be kicked forward. Developers cited that M&A deals in real estate are a motivation for developers to be resumed after a long time of being impacted by the ongoing pandemic. Nguyen Thai Phien, senior financial director at Novaland Group, said that the corporation is based on M&A deals in order to develop its land fund and business for long-term development. Novaland started collecting land in 2005 via M&As and currently boasts more than 700 hectares in the east of Ho Chi Minh City, 700ha in Dong Nai province, and more than 2,000ha in Phan Thiet …

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