Da Nang sets IT as spearhead for economic development

The information was released at a high-level seminar which discussed smart city construction and investment promotion on IT development in Da Nang, hosted by the municipal People's Committee on October 27.

 

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung highly praised the outstanding results of Da Nang in IT investment and development, emphasising that Da Nang is the country’s leading model in IT application and development.

 

In the past five years, Vietnam IT has a growth rate of over 30%. In 2016, the total revenue of the industry reached more than US$ 67 billion, of which the electronics industry gained more than US$58 billion, the software and services industry gained more than US$8 billion and the digital content industry US$739 million.

 

Da Nang, up to now, has nearly 700 IT enterprises with revenue of over VND13 trillion (US$572 million) and high growth rate at 25-30% per year on average, creating jobs for about 22,000 employees.

 

Da Nang Software Park is one of the most effective IT parks in the country. To date, the park has more than 76 enterprises operating with more than 2,400 employees; the occupancy rate is 100%, including 35 FDI enterprises. Total investment capital is at VND1.8 trillion, revenue of IT enterprises in 2016 was at VND1.2 trillion. The main business activities at Da Nang Software Park are software and digital content export and the main export markets are Japan and Europe.

 

Ho Ky Minh, Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee said that since 2000, Da Nang has been determined to promote the use of IT in providing public services to people as well as in urban management and operation. In 2014, Da Nang completed and put into operation the main items of its e-Government Information System and issued the Smart City Plan for more effective urban management.

 

 

 

Da Nang is the only locality in the country to build a dedicated e-government transmission network called the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), connecting more than 90 agencies and consisting of 300km of underground optical cables with a bandwidth of 10-40 Gbps.

 

For nine consecutive years (from 2008 to 2017), Da Nang’s first place in Vietnam ICT Index for its ICT readiness among the centrally run provinces and cities has made it a bright spot in IT application in the administration of e-government.

 

To make new breakthroughs which will bring into full play its potential, Da Nang has set IT development as one of three breakthroughs in the Resolution of the city’s Party Congress tenure 2015-2020, with an aim to put the IT industry into a spearhead economic branch with fast and sustainable development, high turnover and high export value. Priority will be especially given to the development of the software industry, digital content production, manufacturing of microchips, and providing IT services with competitive advantages and export potential.

 

Meanwhile, the city will continue to improve its business and investment environment to support small and medium enterprises and innovative start-ups to attract more investment for the development of local IT towards transforming into a smart metropolis.

 

Deputy Minister Hung has said that to attract investment in IT, Da Nang needs to pay attention to infrastructure to be modern broadband meeting standards of safety, high speed, coverage and good quality. Da Nang should consider systems and databases which will serve people and businesses as essential infrastructure to serve all development needs, while developing policies to attract and reward talents, and more importantly, to create a dynamic and creative working environment for them, he added.

 

The seminars discussed solutions and recommendations from experts and big IT corporations to perfect Da Nang IT system and promote IT investment in the city to shorten time to build intelligent urban area.