The People’s Committee of northern Quang Ninh province and the Vietnam Software and IT Services Association launched the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2019, the first of its kind ever held in Vietnam, on November 19

At the event 

Dubbed the “Oscar” of the ICT sector in Asia-Pacific, the annual awards is alternately held by the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) in 16 member nations and economies in order to honour outstanding products, software, information technologies and start-ups in the region.

The four-day event is underway in Ha Long city with nearly 1,000 delegates taking part, including over 650 from 16 APICTA member countries and economies.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Dang Huy Hau said the event affords Quang Ninh a chance to access technological advances at home and abroad towards building a digital economy while promoting trade, investment and tourism.

The awards have five categories of consumer, inclusions and community services, industry, business services, public sector and government and cross categories of research and development, start-ups, big data analytics, Internet-of-Things, and artificial intelligence.

Among 324 nominations, 47 are from Vietnam.  The awards ceremony will be held on November 22.

An international seminar on digital transformation and smart city development, a business-to-business matching session between Vietnam and foreign partners, an exhibition on Vietnam’s outstanding IT products and services, and an exchange between Vietnamese and foreign ICT students will also be held.