Hanoi ranks among the world’s top 100 smartest cities in 2024

DNHN - A smart city is defined as “an urban environment that uses technology to enhance the benefits and reduce the drawbacks of urbanisation for its citizens”.

The Institute for Management Development (IMD) in collaboration with the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organisation (WeGO) has announced the rankings of the world’s leading smart cities in 2024.

Hanoi is ranked 97th (up 3 places compared to 2023). Researchers analysed data and surveyed 120 residents in each of the 142 cities worldwide, assessing how the city’s infrastructure and technology have impacted its overall performance and the quality of life for its citizens.

According to IMD, a smart city is defined as “an urban environment that uses technology to enhance the benefits and reduce the drawbacks of urbanisation for its citizens”. The cities in the top 20 are mostly located in regions with relatively stable economic and social conditions, even in the context of global instability.

These cities have also implemented initiatives to improve the overall quality of life for their citizens, often focusing on creating green spaces, expanding opportunities for cultural events, and fostering social cohesion.

Currently, the Hanoi city government is implementing a fully digital signature system for managing official documents and city administration; 100% of the city’s government agencies have implemented digital document signing; processing is carried out entirely online; and some shared information database systems have been deployed to all three levels of government to better serve internal operations and administrative procedures.

The city is also researching, developing, and preparing to launch the “Ha Noi-S” application with many utilities for people and businesses to access the city’s administrative agencies in a new way, completely changing the relationship between government administrative agencies and people on a digital platform.

Some practical services in the inner-city area have been implemented to create maximum convenience for people and businesses, such as completing the connection of electronic health records to the national population database; over 1.5 million people have had their profiles created in the city’s electronic health record system; 100% of health insurance examination and treatment facilities use citizen identification cards to look up information; over 14.4 million medical examinations and treatments have been synchronised from the medical examination and treatment management software to the city’s electronic health record system; and the use of cash for parking has been restricted.

The Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee - Ha Minh Hai said that in the coming time, the city will focus on reviewing and determining investment in information technology infrastructure and equipment; promoting technological support features in the implementation of online public services such as digital signatures, online payment platforms, public postal services, and services; and building and forming a system of modern, professional, and electronic administrative agencies serving citizens.

Completing and increasing the number of administrative procedures provided online, especially focusing on ensuring that the target for end-to-end online public services is exceeded, and minimising the costs for people when carrying out administrative transactions.

Focusing on solutions towards building the city’s specialised databases, forming a centralised data centre to serve the connection and sharing of data between the national population database and other databases. Connecting and sharing data is an important solution not only for serving the leadership and management work but also as an optimal way to simplify the components of files in citizens’ transactions, and reduce the cost of administrative procedures for people, and the management costs of government administrative agencies.

The city is assigning units to research and report to competent authorities on prioritising free digital signature support for citizens when using online public services, exempting or supporting, prioritising a part of the charges for citizens using online public services, support services, forms of support for postal transportation, online payment, etc.

Minh Tu