A seminar entitled ‘Da Nang - a Technological Destination’ recently took place in the city.  The event was jointly organised by the city’s portal and relevant local agencies.

Representatives from some local businesses learning about scientific and technological applications in production activities.

Discussions focused on the city’s strategies for bolstering the development of the local IT and hi-tech sectors, and the role of the city’s hi-tech and dedicated IP parks in building Da Nang into a technological destination in Viet Nam in the near future.  Effective ways for building a ‘smart city’, and promoting start-up and technological innovation activities, were also presented at the event.

The city’s existing Scientific and Technological Development Fund specialises in giving loans or funds to local scientific and technological development projects for the sake of the city’s socio-economic progress.  Under its operation rules, the Fund covers the total cost of registering the intellectual property rights of brand names involved in the scientific and technological sectors, and subsidises 70% of the cost of extraordinarily promising projects, funds 50% for projects creating new technologies, and 30% for commercialisation activities for research projects.

The Fund’s authority will continue to create even more favourable conditions for local small- and medium-sized enterprises to improve their production technologies in a bid to enhance their productivity and competitiveness, as well as enhance their product quality.

Over recent years, representatives from the Authority of the city’s Hi-tech Park have warmly received over 130 foreign and 20 domestic delegations arriving in the venue to seek investment opportunities there.  In addition, numerous investment promotion programmes have been organised at home and abroad, especially events in the city’s key foreign markets.

The Director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications, Mr Nguyen Quang Thanh, remarked that many local universities and junior colleges have focused on developing international standard training programmes and offering intensive training courses in their IT faculties.  In particular, many local IT businesses have cooperated with local tertiary establishments to train human resources, and then recruit them after graduation in order to ensure adequate employees to deploy their large-sale software projects.

Director Thanh also stressed the need to deploy ‘smart city’ models in promoting the development of such local aspects of deep concern as transport, healthcare, education, food safety and the environment at the lowest possible cost, but proving highly effective.  He also highlighted the importance of deploying the ‘smart city’ project in combination with developing the local e-government system.