Promoting digital transformation in the context of new development

Dong Nai is now Vietnam’s seventh city. This presents both opportunities and challenges for the city to accelerate the implementation of solutions and tasks to promote science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation across the city.

The city is focusing on building and developing technological and digital infrastructure in parallel with urban development. In particular, it is strengthening data connectivity solutions and improving the effectiveness of the Intelligent Operations Center (IOC).

Focusing on digital governance solutions for smart city development

Currently, the databases of many departments and agencies have been synchronized with the city's IOC. The Dong Nai City IOC is being gradually implemented and put into operation, initially establishing a platform for integrating, exploiting, and visualizing data to support monitoring, supervision, and the direction and administration of city leaders. The city is concentrating on implementing plans to apply digital technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) across socio-economic sectors, while completing database systems connected to the city-, commune-, and ward-level IOCs.

Leaders of departments and agencies inspect operations at the Dong Nai City Intelligent Operations Center in Tran Bien ward.

By late May 2026, the Department of Construction and relevant units handed over the project monitoring system to the Dong Nai City IOC. The system was sponsored by Construction Corporation No. 1 JSC (CC1) and developed by Xboss Technology Solution Co., Ltd.

Nao Thien Anh Minh, Deputy Director of the Department of Construction, said that in the current context, improving the efficiency of management, monitoring, and accelerating public investment projects in particular and construction investment in general are becoming increasingly necessary. Therefore, operating the project monitoring system through the IOC has significant potential for broad application, especially in a locality with a large number of major projects such as Dong Nai.

Once operational, the system will provide an integrated and intuitive dashboard, enabling city leaders to comprehensively monitor project implementation progress and capital disbursement, while promptly identifying difficulties and obstacles. On that basis, direction and administration can be carried out more quickly, accurately, and effectively.

“This is also an important step toward gradually establishing a digitized data system for intelligent administration, with the goal of building a modern and effective administration,” emphasized Nao Thien Anh Minh.

Pham Van Trinh, Member of the City Party Committee and Director of the Department of Science and Technology, said that in the coming period, Dong Nai will issue a Smart City Scheme. At the same time, the city will implement smart city components, including the City IOC; the deployment and interconnection of IOC systems across 95 communes and wards; and the pilot smart city models in several wards and communes. In addition, the city will expand the intelligent traffic signal control system, complete the digital map system (GIS) integrated with building information modeling (BIM), and move toward developing a digital twin for smart urban management.

Strengthening effective and substantive application of digital technology

2026 is a pivotal year for Dong Nai City to accelerate the implementation of Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation. Under this initiative, Dong Nai City aims to achieve comprehensive digital transformation across all sectors and state agencies in the city.

The implementation of digital transformation and smart city development is not only a task to carry out the Politburo’s Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW but also a practical imperative for achieving breakthroughs. Dong Nai is undergoing a strong transition from a traditional administrative model to a smart urban governance model that operates entirely on data and places citizens and businesses at the center of service delivery.

At the seminar titled “Digital Transformation Orientation for Smart Urban Governance in Dong Nai City” held in early May 2026, Le Truong Son, Member of the Dong Nai City Party Committee’s Standing Board and Vice Chairman of the City People’s Committee, emphasized that state agencies from the municipal to the commune/ward levels must strongly change their management mindset. Information systems and digital platforms must comply with the principles of data connectivity and interoperability and ensure absolute information security. Fragmented and disconnected investment must be decisively eliminated. The city's viewpoint is that the city invests in platforms (shared software), while localities invest in equipment.

The leadership of the City People’s Committee assigned the Department of Science and Technology to lead and coordinate with the Office of the Dong Nai City People’s Committee and relevant units in consolidating all proposed recommendations and technological solutions. Based on this, they will advise the Dong Nai City People’s Committee on updating these contents into the city’s digital transformation plan and Smart City Project, contributing to the development of Dong Nai as a smart, modern, and livable city.

In early April 2026, the Dong Nai Provincial People’s Committee, now the City People’s Committee, issued Decision No. 1383/QD-UBND promulgating the digital architecture framework for the city. The framework was developed to establish a unified, synchronized, and long-term architecture for the development of digital government, the digital economy, the digital society, and smart cities in Dong Nai, while ensuring consistency, compliance, and systematic inheritance of key national architectural frameworks.

By late May 2026, the Steering Committee for Science, Technology, Innovation, and Digital Transformation Development of Dong Nai City (referred to as the Steering Committee) held a briefing conference with the steering committees of subordinate Party committees and units. At the conference, Ton Ngoc Hanh, Member of the Party Central Committee, Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairwoman of the City People’s Council and Deputy Head of the Steering Committee, requested that each member of the Steering Committee further enhance their role and responsibility to ensure that work and the implementation of tasks related to science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation produce tangible results.

The Standing Agency of the Steering Committee and subordinate Party committees were asked to focus on addressing bottlenecks in human resources by strengthening regular training and professional development to ensure timely updates of new technological knowledge. At the same time, they were requested to strictly maintain routine reporting and progress monitoring through specialized software. According to Ton Ngoc Hanh, this task requires special attention and stricter discipline in the period ahead.

By Hai Quan – Translated by Minh Hong, Thu Ha