The Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Le Cong Thanh, has stressed that applying artificial intelligence (AI) in the hydro-meteorological sector is essential. This sector in general and the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF), in particular, need to continue to speed up digital transformation and technology application, including the use of AI to meet higher requirements and effectively serve socio-economic development.
The Head of the NCHMF’s Weather Forecasting Department, Tran Quang Nang, informed that the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration has developed forecasting technology, including the application of AI to various fields such as monitoring, calculation, and forecasting. This application helps to improve the quality of hydro-meteorological forecasts and warnings, ensuring reliability and accuracy and contributing to mitigating disaster risks, and boosting socio-economic development.
The Deputy Director-General of the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration, Dr Hoang Duc Cuong, noted AI has gradually replaced many manual jobs, helping save labour and limit human error. According to a news report, the Administration has established its Steering Committee for Digital Transformation for the 2022-2025 period. It is also researching the application of AI in specific problems, including storm forecasting, heavy rainfall quantification, and forecasting rises in water levels caused by storms.
Cuong said that the hydro-meteorological sector has received the State’s investments through modernisation projects, which have achieved encouraging results. In the coming time, the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration will continue to invest in and develop AI in data processing and hydrometeorological forecasting and warning. It will use AI to build a virtual assistant system to automatically provide weather information for users and will apply virtual reality technology in the presentation of hydro-meteorological information.
AI has emerged at the forefront of technology development, and governments and private players are heavily investing in research and development (R&D) for new AI-driven products, services, and solutions. The Vietnamese government issued a national strategy on the research, development, and application of AI until 2030, aiming to gradually turn Vietnam into an innovation and AI hub in ASEAN and the world. The strategy targets to build ten prestigious AI trademarks in the region and develop three national big data and high-performance computing centres.
As OpenGov reported earlier, domestic tech powers and innovative start-ups in Vietnam are also accelerating their investment in AI research and new applications in new business models. The leading information technology service company in Vietnam recently announced that it would spend VNĐ300 billion (US$13.16 million) on AI research and development over the next five years. By 2030, Vietnam plans to set up 50 interconnected open databases in economic sectors in service of the effort. To achieve this, the country is fine-tuning legal documents, creating a legal framework regarding AI, and promoting international cooperation in the field.
Further attention should be paid to human resources training and building a database that is synchronous with computing infrastructure. Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, the application of AI in health care in Vietnam has become a bright spot in the world. AI has helped ease burdens on medical workers and anti-pandemic forces through tracing apps and epidemiological maps. According to the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Computational Intelligence 2020, Vietnam currently ranks 21st in the world in the field of AI.
