Reasonable mechanisms and policies are needed to build a smart city

Binh Duong, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the three localities that are making great efforts in building a smart city. Particularly, Binh Duong has its own direction with the Triple Helix model (local Government - Universities - Enterprises). Binh Duong Newspaper had an interview with Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, Chairwoman of Directors Board cum CEO of Advanced International Joint Stock Company (AIC Group). She has been the first Vietnamese to receive the "Smart Country" award in the UK and the Ambassador of the International smart city.

- Could you please tell us about the foundation for building a smart city, smart country?

- To successfully build a smart city, the prerequisite is to ensure to understand its nature, purposes it serves, and specific utilities it represents. For a long time, we often associated smart city with an abstract, vague and quite distant concept, leading to more or less doubts from managers and people about the feasibility of this model. Therefore, it is necessary to start with a solution to raise awareness and strengthen propagation, training and self-learning so that leaders from all levels in the local society could understand correctly and completely about smart city.

At the same time, the country and localities must set up a smart city architecture framework according to characteristics of each locality, but must ensure compatibility with the common national architectural framework, including e-Government subsystem. Next, local authorities need to review, build and implement synchronous solution groups, in which clearly identify all necessary actions, from researching the situation in the country and the world, reviewing and supplementing legal frameworks, regulations, reporting mechanisms and data sharing, connection systems, and information technology infrastructure to technology training and transferring, operation mechanism, warranty, maintenance, comprehensive upgrading, updating systems ... in a smart urban area.

Equally important is the information technology platform and integration axis throughout the province, in which the interconnection between levels of government, departments, branches and units must be secured. Data center is also a mandatory foundation to serve the central operating system at all levels and fields...

Students of Thu Dau Mot University with a robot arm model at a displaying booth of the 2018 smart city exhibition.

 - In your opinion, Binh Duong needs to consider which factors to build up a smart city?

- In addition to the architecture framework of smart city and a group of synchronous solutions as mentioned above, like any other locality, Binh Duong needs the common consent among the whole Party and the entire people, thereby giving birth to specific and practical component projects to gradually realize the smart city model. Careful preparation of policies, infrastructure, solution providers, IT human resources ... are also prerequisites.

I think that in order for the smart city idea to become a reality, in addition to the drastic direction of provincial leadership, efforts of local departments, agencies and branches, Binh Duong also needs a mechanism to encourage the participation of experts, researchers, and businesses, even socialization in some component projects within the framework of smart city.

This is a new field so the province needs a strict selection of partners to ensure the sustainability and maximum efficiency of the project. When selecting technology models and solutions, the province should require enterprises to describe and demonstrate features of their system, abilities to synchronize connectivity, especially utilities for all beneficiaries in society, from applications for state management agencies, professional units to businesses, people, visitors... Units that meet the minimum requirements as above would more or less affirm its knowledge level and ability to implement their solution in practice.

- Binh Duong successfully organized the WTA Summit 2018. Which benefits would be brought to Binh Duong by this event?

- The successful organization of the WTA Summit 2018 is an opportunity for Binh Duong to approach and exchange experiences with cities that have shown its strength and capacity in smart city construction from around the world. The convergence of ideas and technologies will support Binh Duong in the actual implementation steps in the coming time.

The biggest benefit is that, with experiences of pioneering cities in this field, partner of Binh Duong in this conference were able to introduce models, good ideas, articles, success lessons as well as problems that they had encountered to help Binh Duong avoid mistakes. However, we would mechanically apply experiences or models of other cities in a subjective and willful way. Overall, Binh Duong needs to create its own model, and the province needs to find units, who are strong enough in financial and technological potentials, and domestic and international partner networks to assign tasks of integrating and implementing component projects based on the drawbacks, lessons learned from partner cities as well as maximizing the architectural framework built according to the characteristics of Vietnam in general and Binh Duong in particular.

- Binh Duong was selected to be in top 21 cities with outstanding smart city development strategies of the world Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), in the coming time, what should the province have to do to deserve this new position? Could you imagine how would Binh Duong smart city be in the future?

- Binh Duong will have to make more efforts to deserve its new position, step by step realize the determination of the Party, government and people in the whole province in order to build a Binh Duong smart and modern city in every aspect; In the coming time, firstly to meet the expectations of businesses, tourists and people, and later strive to become an example of smart city building for the reference of provinces and cities in the country as well as partner cities within WTA and the world. I believe that, before entering a new decade, if we start this project fundamentally, with good focuses and the assistance of professionals, competent and enthusiastic businesses, Binh Duong would be completely possible to radically change its appearance, demonstrate the efficient and synchronous connection between core forces of a smart city.

In my opinion, when Binh Duong smart city becomes a reality, state management agencies will perform its functions and tasks in a more effective and efficient way. Provincial leaders will always be able to grasp every emergency situation, everything that happens in their areas, and be able to direct, operate and capture work progress anytime, anywhere. Each individual sector, such as traffic, security - safety, environment, education, health care... of the province will be connected synchronously and maximize investment efficiency in each period. Meanwhile, businesses will be assured of investing and doing business in Binh Duong, due to the transparent, open and highly efficient environment. More and more tourists will come to Binh Duong and want to come back many times to enjoy wonderful facilities in a smart urban model.

At that time, talents and skilled people will want to come to work in Binh Duong and attach themselves in a long term to bring benefits to the country, the province, family and themselves. People in general will be happy and really satisfied, when all public services and many utilities are brought to them by the most lively applications and visual tools, reflecting the State’s spirit of acting for the people, by the people and for the people...

- Thank you, Dr.!

Reported by Phung Hieu – Translated by Ngoc Huynh