The 19^th edition of the Viet Nam Digital Government Summit 2024 officially opened in Da Nang with the participation of 300 delegates. The event was jointly organised by the International Data Group (IDG) Viet Nam, the Viet Nam Digital Communications Association (VDCA) and related units.

Vice Chairwoman of the Da Nang People's Committee Nguyen Thi Anh Thi speaking at the event

In her opening speech at the event, Vice Chairwoman of the Da Nang People's Committee Nguyen Thi Anh Thi said that Da Nang has prioritised developing and applying information technology since the 2000s; as well as putting into use the e-government system since 2014.

Also in 2014, Da Nang piloted the deployment of smart applications and officially implemented the project on building Da Nang into a Smart City in 2018. Since 2021, the city has carried out the resolution and digital transformation project according to the National Digital Transformation programme.

Currently, the municipal government provides more online public services for people and businesses; as well as widely applies information technology in public activities and begins to use digital data in directing, operating and managing urban areas.

The digital economy is developing rapidly and contributing significantly to the city's Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP). Specifically, in 2023, the digital economy contributed 20.7% of GRDP (exceeding the target of 2025 of 20%). The city had 2.3 digital technology businesses for every 1,000 people (3 times higher than the national average rate).

In particular, according to the inspection, measurement and announcement of the Ministry of Information and Communications in August 2024, the rate of online public services in Da Nang is the highest in the country at 95% (the average of provinces and cities is 55%); and the rate of online processing of the entire application is 65% (the average of provinces and cities is 17%).

Da Nang was highly appreciated by the National Committee on Digital Transformation and hosted a national workshop on online public services on August 31, 2024, chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh.

On June 26, 2024, the National Assembly issued Resolution No. 136/2024/QH15 on the organisation of urban administration model and piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Da Nang. Included in the Resolution are breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the IT development, digital transformation, and smart city construction such as attracting strategic investors; managing and exploiting information infrastructure assets; and developing human resources in the semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries.

However, Da Nang still has many tasks. In particular, by 2030, it sets a target of completing the construction of a smart city synchronously connected with smart urban networks in the country and the ASEAN region. Meanwhile, digital economy will account for about 35 - 40% of the local GRDP.

She, therefore, highlighted that the national conference will bring initiatives to solve problems related to institutions, digital infrastructure development, and digital data; as well as to the application of digital technology in providing public services and urban management for local agencies during the process of deploying digital government and building a smart city.

Held for the first time in 2005, the annual Viet Nam Digital Government Summit is a prestigious forum for senior leaders from government agencies and technology experts to meet and discuss investment policies, and propose initiatives and solutions for comprehensive information technology development, thereby promoting the construction of an e-government system.

The Viet Nam Digital Government Summit 2024 featured a discussion with the theme "Da Nang - Green and Sustainable City: Trade Investment and Development Opportunities in the New Era"; and two thematic sessions "The Importance and Effectiveness of Pioneering Leaders in Digital Transformation" and "Digitalizing Education: Exploiting Data and Creating Sustainable Values".

The event gathered 23 speakers who are experts, managers, leaders of state management units on Digital Government, and tech- solution educational, consulting and building units at both home and abroad.

The event in progress

Within the framework of the event, there is a ceremony to announce and honour typical Digital Transformation leaders in 2024. This award is organised by IDG Viet Nam in coordination with the Viet Nam Digital Communications Association in the context of Viet Nam's digital transformation making impressive progress.

The award is held annually from 2021 to honour digital transformation leaders in the Government and business sectors in Viet Nam, contributing to promoting the digital economy and digital society towards the goal of national digital transformation.

Within the framework of the 19^th Viet Nam Digital Government Summit 2024, spokespersons for the municipal Department of Information and Communications and the Department of Construction shared experiences in digital transformation to increase the effectiveness of state management.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Thach, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications, the city is implementing 3 models and solutions to increase the rate of online public services throughout the process. The focus is on diversifying channels and forms of support for online and full-process handling of documents; inheriting digital data to replace the components of paper documents that must be submitted; and attaching QR codes to administrative procedure results.

Specifically, Da Nang is implementing the "Public Service Agent" model with 37 post offices in communes and wards performing online public services; models of "Community Digital Technology Team and Project 06", and "Residential Group 4.0" in wards of Hai Chau District in order to directly guide and support online application submission for people in residential areas.

Currently, 100% of agencies and administrative procedures in the city uses the Digital Administrative Procedure Results Warehouse. The warehouse is not only for people to use in performing other administrative procedures but is also shared for agencies, especially civil servants at the one-stop department to use to provide fast and accurate services.

From 2023 to September 2024, the city had 40,888 administrative procedure results attached with QR codes. Notably, the local transport sector has so far issued 28,666 licenses with QR codes.

The city is currently building a centralised authentication login portal SSO Gateway to share accounts and electronic data for businesses to serve the provision and use of all social services.

According to Mr. Tran Phuoc Hoa Binh, Head of the Construction Permit Office of the Da Nang Department of Construction, in order to overcome the limitations of the AutoCAD system, since 2020, Da Nang has begun to deploy a digital planning management system based on the GIS platform (Geographic Information System). This is a big step forward in integrating and managing geographic data, playing an important role in building a smart city.

GIS has the outstanding advantage of allowing the integration of planning information on a single digital map, updating online and being connected to GPS positioning, thereby helping to ensure the accuracy between data and the field.

Thanks to that, people can easily look up planning information through web platforms and mobile applications, hereby improving transparency and creating favourable conditions for management.

According to the city's future orientation, Da Nang will continue to expand and develop the digital management system, not only in the field of planning but also in other areas such as environment, transportation, and public services.

This is a strategic step towards building a smart city, where all decisions are based on accurate and transparent digital data.

Reporting by M.QUE, C.THANG - Translating by M.DUNG