5.5 billion USD in digital economy and close "sweet fruits" for the people of the Capital
(Dan Tri) - In the first 8 months of the year, Hanoi witnessed unprecedented strong movements in science, technology and digital economic development.
The results stated at the August Working Meeting of the Steering Committee 57 of the Hanoi Party Committee show that the city has realized the leading technology FDI capital flow, launched "billion-dollar" super projects, deployed the Sandbox mechanism (controlled testing) to pave the way for new technology products, and especially brought digital technology deeply into social life.
High-tech nuclear and billion-dollar mega projects
Looking back over the past 8 months, Hanoi's digital economy not only accelerated strongly in macro indicators but also witnessed a historic shift in top-notch technology investment capital flows and mega-projects of unprecedented scale.
According to macro statistics, the digital economy has truly shaped itself as a new growth launch pad for Hanoi.
Mr. Cu Ngoc Trang - Director of Hanoi Department of Science and Technology reported at the conference (Photo: Organizing Committee).
It is estimated that in the first 6 months of the year, the proportion of added value of the digital economy in the city's GRDP reached 16.7% (equivalent to about 5.5 billion USD). In the second quarter of 2026 alone, this number reaches 16.1%. If calculated at current prices, the added value of the digital economy in the second quarter is estimated to increase by 11.5% and overall for the first 6 months by 10.6% over the same period last year.
In the context of the city's overall GRDP growth reaching 8.2%, the digital economy has directly contributed about 1.1 percentage points (equivalent to approximately 13% of the overall growth).
The year 2026 marks a historic shift when FDI capital flows into Hanoi are no longer intensive in real estate but focus strongly on fields that are intensive in knowledge and science and technology.
Accumulated statistics from the beginning of the year to June 26 show that, in the industry structure attracting foreign investment, professional activities in science and technology lead the entire city with about 2,220.40 million USD (accounting for over 68% of total FDI capital).
Science and technology go deeply into many fields in the Capital (Photo: Minh Nhat).
This is the fruit of a consistent strategy in positioning Hanoi to become a global innovation center.
This shift is evidenced by a series of "billion-dollar" digital technology super projects being urgently implemented: FPT Digital Technology Park Urban Area Super Project, OTECH High Performance Computing Infrastructure (Oman)...
The city is expanding and promoting three more large innovation and information technology infrastructure projects with a total land scale of nearly 349 hectares and expected investment capital exceeding VND 45,400 billion.
These include the Science, Technology, Innovation and Mixed Park Project in Dong Ngac and Phu Dien with a scale of 70.27 hectares (capital of 5,044 billion VND), the centralized and mixed digital technology park in Thuong Cat with a scale of 98.83 hectares (capital of 12,031 billion VND), and the Thuong Cat Innovation Zone (TIC) with a scale of 179.83 hectares (capital of 28,338 billion VND). copper).
In particular, to realize the ambition to deeply participate in the global value chain, on June 2, the City People's Committee issued Plan No. 212/KH-UBND on developing Hanoi's semiconductor industry until 2030.
This is a solid legal basis to establish the "3 Houses" strategic cooperation model (State - School - Business) to jointly create the Capital's semiconductor ecosystem.
Sweet fruits close to people's hearts from digital transformation
In the past 8 months, Hanoi has made a profound shift in operating thinking: from "creating data" to "data must be usable", and at the same time bringing digital technology deeply into social life from the grassroots level.
The city is determined not to evaluate results by the number of databases built or the number of digitized records in a formal way, but by taking the actual measure as the level of exploitation to serve people, businesses and management.
Data must ensure the core principles: "Correct - Sufficient - Clean - Alive - Unified - Shared" and must be updated regularly, because data that is not updated will be dead data.
That substantive thinking has brought about clear changes in the fields of health, transportation and public services.
Digital transformation helps people reduce the time spent carrying out administrative procedures (Photo: Minh Nhat).
The capital's health sector has created and standardized information for 9.34 million electronic health records (reaching 99% of the population), synchronously connecting data with 42/42 public hospitals. At the same time, the city has completed data comparison with the National Population Database, successfully verifying VNeID accounts for 6.8 million people.
The smart traffic system is gradually taking shape with 1,837 artificial intelligence cameras located at 195 key intersections. In particular, the multi-modal electronic ticket system (AFC) for public transportation has officially been put into operation since June 25.
In less than 2 months, the system has issued 112,052 ticket cards (including 90,133 virtual cards on smartphones), serving 7,719,342 passengers with a total revenue of 34.35 billion VND.
iHanoi brings a lot of value in creating a bridge between the government and the people (Photo: Hanoi Department of Science and Technology).
At the same time, the traffic infrastructure management system based on digital maps was also put into operation from July 29, helping to digitize all road infrastructure assets and maintenance history in real time.
The peak period of "100 days of implementing key tasks on digital transformation" (starting from July 14 according to Plan No. 277/KH-UBND) helps technology spread strongly to every alley, people's market and traditional craft villages in 126 communes and wards.
This campaign has directly helped people increase revenue, reduce costs and access digital business methods through talking numbers.
As of August 23, the whole city has successfully brought 568/630 OCOP and craft village products to e-commerce platforms (reaching 90.2% of the peak target).
Leading localities such as Hoan Kiem ward (78 products), Chuong My ward (63/63 products) or Dong Anh commune (52/52 products) have helped local business households and businesses increase online sales revenue by 20-30%, while reducing intermediary costs by 10-15%.
64/126 communes and wards successfully organized 123 livestream product promotion sessions with the direct participation of local government leaders, introducing a total of 2,101 products and services.
Creating a unique institutional "pedestal".
For science, technology and the digital economy to truly take off, the important problem is to resolve the "bottlenecks" of legal corridors and storage infrastructure.
According to the Hanoi Department of Science and Technology, in the first 8 months of the year, the city took a historic step by proactively creating outstanding specific mechanisms and building a solid technological foundation, creating a "pedestal" for digital technology businesses and investors.
Hanoi will test self-driving cars (Photo: Minh Nhat).
An important turning point in Hanoi's technology institution was established in June, when the City People's Council issued a series of key Resolutions under the guidance of the Capital Law. These are groundbreaking, "tailor-made" policies aimed at thoroughly removing barriers to capital, infrastructure and mechanisms for innovation.
In particular, to reduce innovation costs and promote the commercialization of intellectual property, Resolution No. 58/2026/NQ-HDND (effective from July 1) has formed an unprecedented synchronous financial support policy package for creative startups.
For eligible subjects, the city commits to support up to 100% of the costs of hiring consultants and using technical facilities and incubators to perfect products.
During the first 5 years of establishment, creative startups are also supported up to 100% of the cost of registering and establishing intellectual property rights (IP) domestically, and up to 60% for inventions and trademarks abroad or internationally registered.
Hanoi pioneered the implementation of a controlled testing mechanism (Sandbox) through Resolution No. 26/2026/NQ-HDND (effective from July 1).
For new products, services or business models that have no legal precedent but solve the Capital's big problem, the city will sponsor and support up to 50% of eligible costs; Maximum 70% of legal, technical, and intellectual property consulting costs; and up to 100% of domestic conference costs.
These projects are also allowed to use the city's data sources, digital infrastructure and public assets for a limited time for testing purposes.