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

  • ITS (UK) Interest Group calls for targeted initiatives on transport emissions
    November 21, 2017
    A more targeted approach to dealing with the automotive industry which has the biggest effect on transport emissions is needed; rather than an overall reduction in average levels of harmful pollutants, according to a meeting held by the ITS (UK) Smart Environment Interest Group. The event featured experts using Intelligent transport systems (ITS) to help improve the environment.
  • Rockefeller Foundation grant to support BRT in four US cities
    April 11, 2013
    The Rockefeller Foundation has announced a US$1.2 million, four-city project to support local efforts to build bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in Boston, Chicago, Nashville and Pittsburgh. In each city, the grant will support research, communications and community outreach efforts to engage and educate local stakeholders on the benefits of BRT. As part of its effort to transform cities, the Rockefeller Foundation's transportation work aims to encourage economic growth and improve quality of life by helping
  • CES 2020: ITS does Vegas
    March 3, 2020
    Keen to find out what the future holds, 170,000 people gathered in Las Vegas for CES 2020 to see 20,000 product debuts and 4,400 exhibitors... and ITS International was there too (All images: CES®)
  • Register now for Mastercard Smart Cities Hackathon
    September 8, 2016
    ITS Australia has teamed up with Mastercard to present the ITS 2016 Mastercard Smart Cities Hackathon which will be staged at the ITS World Congress Melbourne. With more than $20,000 in prizes, the Smart City Hack, being held on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 October, will bring together Australia’s most talented developers, designers and entrepreneurs to create a new wave of smart city services and solutions.