At the award ceremony (Photo: vov)

Deputy Director of the city’s Department of Information and Communications Tran Ngoc Thach said the prize was given to the representative of the municipal People’s Council on September 26.

Thach said it is the second regional smart city award that the city has won since it took the Asia-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation (Asocio) Smart City Award in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2019.

This year's award recognised the endless efforts made by the city in boosting outstanding initiatives of building a smart city that focused on happiness, smart infrastructure, online public service, economic growth, education, and development research with human concentration.

The Seoul Smart City Prize promotes an innovative yet inclusive smart city model that looks after underprivileged groups. It also aims to narrow the gap between cities and commend those that strive to implement an innovative and inclusive model of smart city in their respective capabilities, given different municipal circumstances.

Da Nang is a member of the 215-member list of the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) – a membership-based international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities through facilitating public-private partnerships (PPP) – and the ASEAN Smart Cities Network.

A report from the city’s information and communications department revealed that smartphone subscription accounted for 93% of the population in Da Nang, and 97% of households are using a smartphone.

About 3.55 million accounts among those above 15 years old access cashless payment, while each resident owns at least two accounts on social networks attached with an identification (ID) code and health file.

Every school student was given an ID and digital school reports to facilitate education survey and quality control.

The city’s information technology and communications (ICT) industry also launched a digital ecology system including a multi-service mobile app and digital citizenship, including a smart trips platform, switchboard 1022, and Danamap for emergency calls.

Da Nang has been developing itself as a 'smart city' by 2025 and is the first in Vietnam to join the ASEAN 'smart' city network by 2030.

The RoK’s LG Electronics and Samsung have been cooperating with the city in promoting research, production, and education as well as electronics manufacturing.