The southern province of Binh Duong has become the first and only one in Vietnam to be named a Smart21 community for 2019 by the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum (ICF).

The southern province of Binh Duong has become the first and only one in Vietnam to be named a Smart21 community for 2019 by the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) (Photo: nld.vn)

At ceremonies in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada and headquarters in New York on October 25, the ICF published a list of 21 cities for their smart city development strategies.

Of the 2019 list, cities from 10 countries and territories on six continents were honoured, including Chicago and Illinois in the US, Moscow in Russia, Adelaide in Australia and 17 other cities from Brazil, Canada, France, India, Kenya, Taiwan and Vietnam.

There are currently 180 members from different countries, territories, cities and regions participating in the ICF. The top Smart21 was selected based on criteria assessed by experts led by Normal Jacknis, former director of Cisco IBSG Public Sector and CIO of Westchester County, New York.

ICF believed that the selected cities and regions were those which had set up good strategies for innovation and long-term success.

Tran Thanh Liem, Chairman of the Binh Duong People’s Committee, said that ICF experts had visited Binh Duong to assess the province’s smart city project.

He said that being named in the Smart21 showed that Binh Duong was on the right track.

“The recognition will help create favourable conditions for Binh Duong to establish stronger relationships with smart communities around the world to exchange information, experience and attract more talents to work in the province,” Liem said.

With the help from Eindhoven in the Netherlands in late 2016, Binh Duong province approved the Binh Duong Smart City Project with Binh Duong city as the nucleus.

According to experts, Binh Duong shared many similarities with the city of Eindhoven, with a large business community, and many vocational training institutions and universities. Binh Duong province has a co-operative relationship with more than 65 countries and territories with nearly 20,000 foreigners living and working there.-VNS