Ho Chi Minh City and Tampere City (Finland): Great potential for cooperation in developing smart cities, promoting innovation
In the afternoon of May 20, Mr. Lam Dinh Thang (Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City) presided the reception and worked with the delegation of Tampere City (Finland) led by Mr. Jouni Markkanen, Deputy Mayor.

The working session took place at the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City.
The two sides discussed and proposed many potential cooperation directions in the fields of smart city development, promoting digital transformation, innovation, artificial intelligence application, university linkage, etc.
In his welcoming speech, Mr. Lam Dinh Thang emphasized the importance of international cooperation in the context of Ho Chi Minh City promoting the construction of a smart city and developing an innovative ecosystem. The Director of the Department also shared about Ho Chi Minh City's outstanding achievements in digital transformation, applying new technologies (AI, IoT, big data, etc.) in smart urban management, promoting an innovative startup ecosystem; at the same time, expressed his desire to learn from Finland's experience with impressive results in smart traffic development solutions, building an open data ecosystem, applying clean and sustainable energy, innovative startup activities, linking state agencies - schools/institutes - businesses, etc.
In particular, Mr. Lam Dinh Thang happily shared that Ho Chi Minh City has just increased 1 rank to 110th globally, and for the first time entered the Top 5 leading innovative startup ecosystems in Southeast Asia (according to the official report published by StartupBlink on May 20, 2025).
This result is a worthy recognition of Ho Chi Minh City's efforts, and also a driving force for the City to continue moving towards major strategic goals in the fields of science and technology, digital transformation, smart urban management, and attracting investment in innovation. The City aims to bring its startup and innovation ecosystem into the Top 100 most dynamic startup ecosystems globally by 2030.
This shows that the investment environment and creative startup ecosystem in Ho Chi Minh City must be very dynamic, attractive and create favorable conditions for startups to develop, Mr. Thang emphasized