I did not know that Vietnam was such a growing country: since 1993 poverty has dropped from 58% to 10% and the growth rate since 2000 has always stood above 5% of GDP with a peak in 2017 of 6.8 % (see complete report of the World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/how-vietnam-became-an-economic-miracle/ ). But above all, I did not imagine that the country was so committed to a smart city approach for the socio-economic development of its community.
This is the most important message I bring home after my mission to Hanoi, host of AIC Group, the country’s leading company in terms of healthcare, mobility, education, environmental monitoring, ICT, finance and other sectors. I was invited by Madame Nguyen Thi Than Nhan (President and CEO of AIC Group), a true charismatic, visionary and forward-looking leader in promoting the role that new technologies can play in the digital transformation and growth of the country.
Madame Nhan was recognized in 2017 by Forbes Vietnam among the 50 most influential women in the country and in 2015 among the 12 most important businesswomen of the ASEAN region (The Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Furthermore, on 5 October 2018 in London in the Global Smart City Context, organized by World Smart City, he received the “Best Model and Smart Nation Idea” award (see: https://aicgroup.com/345n/the-first-vietnamese -to-receive-the-prestigious-international-award-smart-nation.html).
She told me about her model and her Smart Nation strategy and the corresponding implementation path just started. They are also investing in international relations to improve the quality of their solutions but at the same time already developing interesting projects internally (for example their Internet Operation Center, a sort of dashboard able to provide real-time economic and performance indicators that can be consulted on a geographical basis and applicable on the various organizational entities present in that particular territory).
The staff is composed of different young people, dynamic and very prepared. I had several meetings with Mr Ky Nguyen Van, assistant president and CEO, and I got to talk to their young managers: they are many open-minded, determined and with clear ideas on what they want to develop. In short, an optimal context for developing smart cities!
Thanks to Madame Nhan, I met the Minister of Planning and Investments, Mr. Nguyen Chi Dzung. The problems of greatest interest at the moment are mobility, flooding in the south of the country, the development of education and health services. But in general they are open to examining collaborative hypotheses in various other application domains.
But what can TSCAI offer? In the coming months we plan to start a training collaboration with AIC Group and the Government and we would like to facilitate the comparison and partnerships on smart services with some of our members.
I am sure that Vietnam will talk a lot about itself in the coming years. Meanwhile I taste the memory of friendly and smart people, the variety and richness of local dishes and the charm of the landscapes and traditions of Hanoi.