Construction of smart city – the direction of sustainable economic development

The strong development of cities poses enormous challenges in terms of infrastructure, business environment, living environment for managers and functional sectors. The industry and trade of the province has also developed a plan and specific roadmap to its plan.

Concentration on 4 key fields

At the recent Smart City conference took place at the end of September, 2017 in Hanoi, representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that the government of Vietnam has been very interested in the process of urbanization and identification of the role and importance of cities in supporting the Vietnamese economy to integrate into the world economy as well as in promoting the sustainable development of the region. Determining the construction of intelligent cities as an inevitable choice in line with the development trend of the time, on November 21, 2016, the provincial People's Committee approved the strategic plan of Binh Duong to year 2021 (aka Binh Duong Navigator 2021) as the focus of the "Binh Duong Smart City" project. This is a program to help Binh Duong rapidly develop in many different fields, from which the transition from traditional manufacturing to high technology production and services with high content of literacy, less labor-intensity, and more added value for the local economy.

Smart City Conference 2017 is to be organized in Binh Duong

In fact, after 30 years of renovation and 20 years of Binh Duong development, due to the right orientation, Binh Duong province has developed rapidly. From a province with an agricultural proportion of over 95%, the total budget revenue in 2016 is estimated at VND 40,000 billion, which is 50 times higher than 20 years ago. In the economic structure, the share of industry and services has reached 97.3%. The province has 29 industrial zones with more than 3,000 enterprises. In addition, Binh Duong has invested in a synchronous transportation system with provinces and cities in the southern key economic region and the central highlands. The port system, modern logistics, contributes to the development of logistics services, facilitating cost reduction for investors, increasing output, attracting many investors and bringing in revenue. According to experts, despite the strong development over the country, Binh Duong economy faces many challenges such as heavy rely on traditional production, low added value of the products, the ecological environment impacts, the declined competitive advantage in attracting investment in the traditional fields, large manual working force in the demands for quality human resources, modern technology access, efficient production, finance, taxation and favorable administration for enterprises and establishments. Therefore, the construction of Binh Duong Smart City to meet this new and indispensable need to ensure economic development and benefits for Binh Duong people.

According to Nguyen Van Danh, Director of Binh Duong Department of Industry and Trade, the global economy is entering a new phase, bringing many opportunities to develop a great industrial province such as Binh Duong. Along with other countries in the region, Vietnam is joining many major free trade agreements and the wave of industrial production tends to move to a number of developing countries, including Vietnam. This is the right time for Binh Duong to launch new breakthroughs to meet the new demands of people and businesses to continue to bring the economy to sustainable development. With 20 years of international investment promotion, Binh Duong has had many cooperative activities with provinces and cities around the world in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, America, Europe ... especially the city of Eindhoven (the Netherlands). The journey forward still has been set with many tasks for departments, including industry and trade.

In order to successfully implement the provincial resolutions, directives and programs for socio-economic development in 2016-2020 with a vision to 2030, contributing to the effective implementation of contents and responsibilities of industry and trade, the Department of Industry and Trade has issued a plan to implement smart city. Accordingly, on the basis of coordination with related departments and agencies, and demonstrating their determination to concentrate resources on effective implementation of approved programs, schemes and planning, in 2018, the department will accelerate the implementation of "Establishing Industry and Trade Database" in English and Vietnamese with extensive and verified information. This activity aims to synchronize and unify State’s management and exchange and sharing of data in production technology and enterprise development. The second activity is the establishment and development of the e-commerce platform of the province to promote the trade and online commerce of goods of enterprises to meet the general trend in era of technologies. The department is also implementing the project of "Industry orientation, calling for innovation to attract investment in the field of industry and trade." To meet the requirements of socio-economic development and economic restructuring according to the Resolution of the provincial Party Congress and implementation of the Program No 34-CTr / TU dated December 16, 2016 of the provincial Party Committee on renewal investment in 2016-2020. Along with utility services, the building of a sustainable green environment is the model for the expansion of smart cities in the near future. According to experts, advanced energy systems monitor and control shall be administered for the use of energy, thereby energy is more efficiently managed and stored. Starting from the meaning, the Department of Industry and Trade is focusing on building the project of "Development of solar energy" in order to save costs and ensure energy resources used in environment-friendly production and business operations. The project will be implemented in 2019.

The industry project plans always aim at the new values of the regional and global economy in the 21st century, placing people and knowledge at the heart of the "smart" cooperation link. The motto is to develop towards a dynamic, creative and flexible economy capable of adapting to the unpredictable changes of the world.

Premise for sustainable development

Also at the workshop took place in late September 2017 in Hanoi, Joerg Rueger, First Secretary of the German Embassy in Hanoi for Environmental Protection and Nature Urban Construction and Development emphasized that digital will fundamentally change the way we live and work in the cities. Smart cities are not the ultimate destination. Essentially it is designed to serve the goal of sustainable development in all areas, including economic, social and environmental matters. In recent years, the trade and industry sector has strengthened its support to branding enterprises in order to establish the position of Binh Duong's enterprises at the international level in order to promote and invite FDI in advanced manufacturing, high value-added fields, attracting intellectual workers, aiming to bring Binh Duong into a bright spot with advanced production and technical skills in the future. The development of logistics has been focused on, and continues to grow to meet the needs of local businesses. This is an important prerequisite for attracting investments.

In the coming time, the Department of Industry and Trade continues to accompany the business and advises the provincial People's Committee to continue supporting the province's key industries, strengthening and developing existing businesses while creating new businesses, creating easier conditions for business integration in the region and in the international arena. Along with that, the industry continues to focus on investing in factors affecting the production and business of enterprises to continue attracting investors into high technologies in Binh Duong; continuing to focus on building and planning branches in the direction of smart, utility to promote sustainable business development. At the same time, it enhances the ability to predict and prevent adverse events that may affect the business environment of enterprises.

The implementation of the cooperation model of Binh Duong province towards intelligent creative cities, is a new, unprecedented process that will certainly be more challenging. With great determination and practical actions, it is hopeful that the trade and industry will contribute to create breakthroughs in dynamic and sustainable economic and social development for the province and in the linkage structure to develop the southern key economic region.

Reported by Tieu My – Translated by Vi Bao