In attendance were the Da Nang leaders; representatives from the departments, the institute for socio-economic development, the business incubator and the startup network in the city; Marko Saarinen, a counsellor and head of the development cooperation department of the Finnish Embassy; and Finnish experts.

In his opening remarks, Ho Ky Minh, Vice Chairman of the Da Nang municipal People’s Committee, stated that the project on building Da Nang into a smarter city, approved by the municipal People’s Committee in 2014, has developed five priority areas for implementation, including smart transport, smart water supply, smart water drainage, food safety control, and the building of a connected city.

Since July 2014, Da Nang has officially inaugurated and put into use an e-government information system, he said, adding that the city’s effective IT application and e-government operations have been highly appreciated by agencies, organisations and the IT community.

Minh said that the building and application of the smart city and e-government models has helped Da Nang to create new power for its apparatus to operate more effectively and transparently, while providing more information and better services for people, businesses and organisations.

At the workshop, the Finnish partners pointed out the advantages and challenges to Da Nang in developing a smart and innovative city, whilst recommending solutions that suit the city’s conditions. They also shared Finland’s experience in the field, which are the application and development of IT to enhance companies’ competitiveness, and the facilitation of citizen participation in state management and social administration work.

Tom Hintsanen, an urban planning director in Turku city (Finland), said that in order to build a smart and innovative city, there needs to be a combination of many different factors and resources, such as infrastructure; smart and modern utilities; green tree parks; the use of clean energy at hospitals, schools and houses; a system of public transport means in service of locals; and the creation of jobs for labourers.