(Photo: ABB)
Da Nang is taking steps to transform itself into a smart city by 2020, in line with the direction from the government, and ABB technologies will support this transformation.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in developing Da Nang into a smart city by 2020 was signed recently between the city’s Department of Information and Communications Technology, the executing agency of the Da Nang Smart City Scheme, and ABB.
ABB will support Da Nang in clean water and leakage management, waste and wastewater management, data center expansion, and in establishing a marine operations center.
In its role as a technology partner, ABB will continue to invest R&D resources in these fields and support Da Nang to develop technological solutions to become more sustainable, competitive, and livable. ABB will also help authorities approach international experts and connect with other smart city models around the world to share knowledge and expertise.
The central city is one of ten “worth-living-in cities” according to a survey by Live and Invest Overseas (LIO) in 2018 and was recently ranked 15th on a list of “52 Places to Go in 2019” by The New York Times. It has actively made efforts in recent times to modernize its infrastructure and has achieved a number of significant milestones, being the leading city in the ICT Index for ten consecutive years and being one of only two cities in Southeast Asia to use chatbot technology (Danang FanstatiCity) to promote tourism, with the other being Singapore.
“ABB is proud to partner Da Nang on its journey to making improvements in sustainability, quality of life, and economic growth,” said Mr. Brian Hull, Country Managing Director of ABB in Vietnam. “ABB products and solutions are at the heart of a city’s critical infrastructure, relied upon for everything from the supply of power, water, and heat to the automation of the factories and buildings we work in. We will bring our wealth of experience in global deployment of similar smart city projects to support Da Nang in accomplishing its vision.”
The MoU signing ceremony took place at a workshop organized by the Department of Information and Communications Technology, where ABB also delivered a keynote address on “Building a Smart City: Technologies Bring a Livable Environment”.
ABB began operations in Vietnam in 1993 and in the quarter of a century since has grown to be a reliable technology partner providing pioneering and turnkey solutions and services. It has supplied innovative technologies in smart city projects in Vietnam such as the Ho Chi Minh City water distribution capacity enhancement project, which enabled its customer, SAWACO, to monitor network conditions digitally through multiple data collection points and offer actionable insights to reduce non-revenue water. It is estimated that SAWACO will save 50 million cu m of water each year, equivalent to a cost saving of more than $10 million annually.
