Page 14 - Climate Control News Magazine March 2021

World News
Smart cities for Vietnam
BELOW: Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee vice chair associate professor Dr Duong Anh Duc with the MOU.
an annual event to offer long-lasting support to smart city development in Vietnam,” Coloe said.
Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee vice chair associate professor Dr Duong Anh Duc said the city was in the second phase of its smart city plan, which had seen about $AU150 million invested.
“We expect to increase international coopera- tion for the next phases of the project and be- yond, which is why forums like this are much welcome platforms for networking and knowl- edge sharing,” Duc said.
RMIT UNIVERSITY AND Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee have brought international and industry experts together to discuss the building blocks of smart and sustainable cities.
The inaugural event brought together thought leaders from Australia, Singapore, Japan and Vi- etnam who shared observations, inputs and suc- cessful case studies on urban futures that could be applied to Vietnamese cities.
International experts said that urban leaders worldwide were grappling with the policy and planning task of creating cities that were both smart and sustainable.
They said the challenge was balancing the fu- ture capacity for global city competitiveness, so- cial stability and economic resilience, with the innovative ability to offer smart economic infra- structure and services.
Last month’s forum was a mix of participants attending in person in Ho Chi Minh City while others joined virtually from Australia and other Asia-Pacific locations.
Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Dr Gillian Sparkes delivered a key- note, highlighting the combination of science, technology and sustainable development as the keys to a smart city.
A key outcome of the event was RMIT and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to foster collaboration in key development areas for the
ABOVE: Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Dr Gillian Sparkes.
ABOVE RIGHT: RMIT Vietnam chair, professor Peter Coloe.
city, which has a population of more than eight million people.
As a leading global university of design and technology, RMIT has assisted the public and private sectors in Australia with research and applications on city design and sustainable ur- ban development to best respond to changing socio-economic and environmental conditions.
Following the direction of former Ho Chi Minh City Party committee secretary Nguyen Thien Nhan, the MOU will support stronger collabora- tion between RMIT and the city to develop and maintain international education standards in Vietnam, smart city development, leadership ca- pacity, innovation and start-up promotion.
RMIT Vietnam chair professor Peter Coloe said the University was committed to making long- lasting impacts in Vietnam, not only through the lives of its graduates but also through its knowl- edge and capabilities.
“Leveraging our resources and networks, we are committed to making the Smart Cities Forum
Deputy vice-chancellor, col-
lege of business and law and
vice-president professor Julie
Cogin said the College and the
University more broadly had
become renowned for leader-
ship in research and applica-
tion of sustainable develop-
ment techniques, including in smart city design.
“We have established a research cluster on Managing Smart Transformation at the School of Business and Management in Vietnam and will also open a Smart City Hub at our Ho Chi Minh City campus,” she said.
Julie Cogin
Test centre China
DANISH MANUFACTURER DANFOSS has com- menced construction of a $AU9.98 million global refrigeration R&D and testing centre in China.
The new 7,000m2 test centre in Wuqing District, Tianjin, is expected to be completed within the next 12 months.
It will be dedicated to the research and development and testing of inverter technology for refrigeration and air conditioning compressors, heat pump applications, and environmentally friendly refrigerant alternatives.
Danfoss said the new centre will provide its global commercial compressor customers with professional technical services and high-level support in the devel- opment of green refrigerants.
Danfoss China president, Xu Yang, said China has become an important base for the company.
Danfoss headquarters in Denmark.
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