HCM CITY — HCM City and Finland’s Tampere City seek to enhance cooperation in artificial intelligence, sustainable development, new materials, green financial solutions and technological innovation.

At a meeting held between officials from the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) and Tampere and business executives at the C4IR centre in HCM City on Wednesday, the former officials said the centre was founded by the city to promote digital transformation and develop the high-tech sector.

It also serves as a bridge between the government, businesses and the research community, both domestic and international.

They said 98 per cent of Vietnamese enterprises are SMEs that employ 50 per cent of its workforce.

So the centre is working to develop a system that helps businesses assess their smart manufacturing capabilities and identify specific solutions, they said.

This will also serve as a platform that can become a technology exchange, providing science and technology solutions both domestically and internationally when it is completed by the first quarter of 2026.

C4IR also hopes to collaborate with Finland for building a legal framework for AI for the government since that country is a pioneer in the field, already with a framework and a first version of its AI strategy.

Both C4IR and Tampere are highly focused on certain sectors such as semiconductors, renewable energy, construction, new materials, and logistics, and hope to develop bilateral start-up support programmes.

Jouni Markkanen, deputy mayor of Tampere, praised the establishment of the C4IR initiative in HCM City.

He expressed strong interest in technology, particularly AI, as the city currently applies it in chip manufacturing, renewable energy and hydrogen production.

Tampere is also participating in a World Economic Forum AI cities initiative and wishes to become HCM City’s legal and technological partner in this field, he said.

The centre invited the Tampere delegation to attend the HCM City Economic Forum Week scheduled for November 24–28 this year.

The two cities signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to cooperate in education, workforce training, promoting innovation, and smart urban development. – VNS