The Hai Phong City Digital Transformation Strategy for the 2026 - 2030 period, issued under Decision No. 1167/QD-UBND dated March 31, 2026, is a milestone document reflecting the port city's ambition for breakthroughs in the new era. This strategy is not merely the application of information technology in management but a "major surgery" of operational processes and economic restructuring toward being smart, sustainable, and highly autonomous, based on the spirit of Politburo Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW.
- Looking back at the 2021 - 2025 period: Foundations and "bottlenecks" that need to be resolved
Looking back at the 2021 - 2025 period, the digitalization effort in Hai Phong recorded important foundational steps. The digital economy's contribution to GRDP reached approximately 27.17%, formed mainly from the hardware industry and technology-based logistics services. Digital infrastructure developed significantly with broadband telecommunications networks covering 100% of communes, wards, and special zones; the rate of adults owning smart devices exceeded 85%. Notably, the rate of administrative procedure records processed entirely online remained stable at 78%, helping to break information barriers between agencies and reducing costs for the business community.
However, reality revealed three main bottlenecks that need to be resolved:
- First: Serious data fragmentation leading to local "data silos" and a lack of synchronous connectivity between systems, which reduces the efficiency of analysis and leadership decision-making support.
- Second: The traditional processing and manufacturing industrial sector is slow to adapt, and the number of enterprises mastering core technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is limited.
- Third: The shortage of high-quality technology human resources, especially in cybersecurity and data science, alongside an experimental environment (sandbox) that has not been synchronously institutionalized, limiting attraction for venture capital funds.
- Strategic Vision and Breakthrough Goals to 2030
Hai Phong defines its vision to 2030 as rising to the position of the national leader in comprehensive digital transformation, affirming its role as an international logistics service center and a regional “Data Hub” (Data Center). The city's development is oriented toward three core pillars:
- Regarding digital infrastructure: Hai Phong aims to complete and operate a High-Performance Computing (HPC) center, providing superior processing capacity for AI and Big Data research and development. The city strives for 100% 5G mobile network coverage across all residential areas, industrial zones, and seaports; ensuring 100% of citizens have broadband fiber-optic internet access with a minimum speed of 1 Gb/s.
- Regarding Digital Government: Completing a smart governance model based on real-time data. Hai Phong aims to provide public services according to the "non-administrative boundary" principle and reach a 100% rate of "contactless" administrative transactions, completely eliminating the requirement for physical presence at one-stop departments for eligible procedures. Particularly, the city determinedly implements the "declare only once" principle, automatically extracting and reusing data in subsequent transaction cycles.
- Regarding Digital Economy: Making digital technology the main growth driver, focusing on the comprehensive digitalization of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) transaction processes. Hai Phong will focus on developing an innovative startup ecosystem, especially for enterprises mastering core technologies such as semiconductors and clean energy.
- Regarding Digital Society: Ensuring 100% of officials and civil servants master digital skills and proficiently apply AI tools in professional work. The city strives for at least 90% of the adult population to regularly access and use essential digital services in healthcare (electronic health records), education (digital learning materials), and insurance.
- Key task groups and solutions
3.1. Innovating leadership methods and communication: Recognizing that awareness plays a decisive role, Hai Phong determines that digital transformation must start with a change in the mindset of the government apparatus. The city applies the “6 clears” motto: clear people, clear work, clear time, clear responsibility, clear results, and clear causes. Digital transformation tasks must not be completely delegated or "blank-checked" to specialized information technology forces; instead, the heads of party committees and governments must directly lead and take the highest responsibility for implementation results.
3.2. Perfecting institutions and breakthrough policy mechanisms: Hai Phong stands firm on the view that institutions must go first to lead digital transformation. The city is focusing on building regulations for sharing and exploiting shared data to completely eliminate "data silos". A breakthrough solution is the establishment of a controlled experimental environment (sandbox) for new products and business models in advantageous fields such as smart logistics, electronic seaports, and cross-border trade. Additionally, the city will issue unique, superior remuneration policies to attract talented experts and high-quality cybersecurity engineers to work at state agencies.
3.3. Developing Infrastructure and Digital Platforms with smart city stature: Digital infrastructure is likened to the city's "blood vessels". Hai Phong will focus on building a city-level Digital Twin platform—a digital space model accurately reflecting reality in real-time to help advisory agencies simulate and evaluate the impact of urban planning before making investment decisions. An Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) will serve as the “digital brain,” integrating AI technology to analyze trends and provide early warnings of risks related to traffic, environmental pollution, and security.
3.4. Building a Digital Government centered on people and businesses: Transforming the government is a revolution in working methods, decisively moving from a paper document environment to a comprehensive digital environment. Hai Phong requires the absolute application of personal digital signatures and agency digital signatures in all drafting and approval stages. The city aims for an "end-to-end" online public service model, helping to maximize savings on compliance costs for citizens and businesses.
3.5. Developing the Digital Economy based on three pillars: Industry – Seaport – Tourism: Hai Phong is creating a roadmap to digitalize the economy focusing on spearhead fields:
- Industrial pillar: Aiming for a smart factory and green production model, applying AI and IoT to automate processes, optimize productivity, and reduce emissions toward the Net Zero goal.
- Seaport and Logistics pillar: This is a strategic breakthrough. The city focuses on investing in a Smart Port platform associated with green port standards, directly serving the management of the new-generation Free Trade Zone (FTZ). The system will intelligently coordinate multi-modal traffic from seaports to roads, railways, and waterways.
- Tourism pillar: Creating a smart tourism ecosystem, using 3D, Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies to enhance the experience for tourists at heritage sites like Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago.
3.6. Ensuring Information Safety and Cybersecurity: The city identifies cybersecurity as a prerequisite and vital condition throughout the development process. Hai Phong is implementing a strict “4-layer” protection model and operating a 24/7 Cybersecurity Operations Center (SOC) to monitor and promptly respond to incidents. Particularly, the city applies iron discipline with the “Security by design” principle for all software and digital platforms before they are put into operation.
- Implementation resources and Monitoring mechanisms
Hai Phong identifies state budget capital as “seed capital” to lead and prioritize investment in core projects that cannot be socialized. At the same time, the city creates an open mechanism to mobilize resources from large technology corporations through public-private partnerships (PPP) and attracts FDI into the semiconductor and AI fields.
Inspection and supervision will be carried out frequently and continuously. The city will establish a work management system to evaluate officials' capacity based on the results of implementing digital transformation targets. Collectives and individuals with breakthrough initiatives will be commended and rewarded promptly; conversely, cases of sluggishness or shifting responsibility will be strictly disciplined.
The Digital Transformation Strategy for the 2026 - 2030 period is a comprehensive roadmap for Hai Phong to break through and become a modern growth pole for the whole country. With the consensus of the entire political system, the proactiveness of businesses, and the agreement of the people, Hai Phong is confidently moving forward on the path to becoming a smart, sustainable port city and the pride of the Red River Delta.