Skip to main content

Finland to help Vietnam develop smart cities

Speaking at a seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City, Finland's Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vanpaavuori said that that his country would help Viet Nam achieve ambitious targets for smart and green cities by providing assistance in sustainable urban planning, industrial design, clean technologies and digital services, along with education and training.
October 23, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Speaking at a seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City, Finland's Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vanpaavuori said that that his country would help Viet Nam achieve ambitious targets for smart and green cities by providing assistance in sustainable urban planning, industrial design, clean technologies and digital services, along with education and training.

"The fast urbanisation and dynamic modernisation process in Viet Nam has increased demand for energy efficiency, smart transport and modern city infrastructure. This enormous growth potential makes Viet Nam a very interesting partner in the smart city area," he said.

Vanpaavuori said Finland had invested a great deal in demand-driven innovations and new business solutions, assisted by forward-thinking companies. He said the strengths of the Finnish economy and industries complemented Viet Nam's development needs and challenges.

Finnish companies have already contributed to Viet Nam's Green City targets in a number of ventures, including waste-to-energy plants, urban infrastructure and bridge development and the development of Ho Chi Minh City’s new urban area.
Experts estimate that the population of cities will increase from 3.3 billion to nearly 5 billion by 2030.

"With fast-growing and transforming cities, we are faced with challenges like air pollution, traffic problems, poor or non-existing city planning, lack of space and sustainable energy solutions. If not taken care of, at worst this leads to serious socio-economic and environmental problems," Vanpaavuori said.

Le Manh Ha, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, said the city wanted to become a smart city by using IT in urban management. "The city wants to access advanced technology from Finland in urban design, traffic management organisation and wastewater management so that we can create sustainable urbanisation and a growth model," he said.

Related Content

  • Outlook good for transportation technology funding
    January 25, 2012
    Chris Cheever and Chris Thomas of Fontinalis Partners discuss the funding outlook for the ITS industry – where the money’s going to come from, and what needs to happen to facilitate change
  • Cubic joins with Imperial College to apply AI in mass transit
    February 13, 2025
    Firm partners with UK university to improve public transport though new tech
  • Big wheels keep on turnin’
    August 21, 2018
    Many of the great and the good in the global mobility sector gathered at this year’s Movin’ On event in Montreal. Measured regulation of technologies and safety issues were major themes, reports David Arminas. *Bibendum is the original name for the Michelin Man, the symbol of the Michelin tyre company Autonomous vehicles, platooning, smart intersections and safety – these were the talking points over two-and-a-half days of the Movin’ On event in Montreal, Canada. Everyone in the mobility sector is at the
  • Westminster: DoT’s Ella Taylor on transport changes and challenges
    January 15, 2018
    Ella Taylor, head of innovation, connectivity and data, centre for connected and autonomous vehicles, Department for Transport (DoT) addressed the changes in the transport ecosystem, and how the government hopes to address challenges at Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum Keynote Seminar. Opening the presentation, Taylor stated that changes in automation are not only affecting cars but are also creating new modes of transport. In addition, changes in business models are also enabling