In 2025, emulation movements in HCMC continued to be deployed effectively and professionally. With diverse formats and practical criteria, these campaigns remained closely aligned with core political mandates. Emulation efforts were integrated into primary tasks and the resolution of complex bottlenecks, contributing to the successful realization of the city’s socio-economic objectives.
Deputy Director Vo Minh Thanh of the HCMC Department of Science and Technology shared that in response to the national movement “Innovation and Digital Transformation,” the city’s science and technology sector considers this a central “emulation front.” Consequently, the entire sector focused on fulfilling targets with concrete results. The city’s innovative startup ecosystem continues to thrive, contributing actively to growth and enhancing competitiveness.
For 2026, the sector will persist in accelerating emulation across key tasks such as institutional refinement, establishing experimental mechanisms, attracting social resources, and developing the innovation ecosystem. Alongside this is the promotion of comprehensive digital transformation in urban governance, enhancing digital capacity for officials, while placing citizens and businesses at the heart of service delivery.
In the realm of journalism and communications, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Pham Van Truong of Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper (SGGP) stated that since early 2025, the newspaper proactively developed communication plans for patriotic emulation, focusing on spreading stories of advanced role models. Content was deployed synchronously across print, digital, and social platforms, bringing the spirit of emulation closer to readers.
SGGP opted for a human-centric approach, telling emulation stories through vivid data and imagery. Effective models were widely disseminated, linked to the city’s key political mandates. Emphasis was also placed on applying digital technology in journalism and identifying grassroots role models.
According to Deputy Editor-in-Chief Pham Van Truong, the 2026 motto for SGGP is “Breakthrough Action, Spreading Results,” where “breakthrough” means pioneering the report of bottlenecks and proposing solutions for businesses, while “spreading” involves bringing substantive results of innovation to the public.
At the conference, the organization committee presented 87 Medals from the President to various collectives and individuals:
- One First-Class Independence Medal to a collective,
- One Third-Class Independence Medal to an individual,
- 13 First-Class Labor Medals,
- 36 Second-Class Labor Medals,
- 36 Third-Class Labor Medals,
- Government Emulation Flags to 7 collectives,
- HCMC People’s Committee Emulation Flags to 18 collectives.
Launching the 2026 Patriotic Emulation movement, Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thanh Cuong of the HCMC People’s Committee noted that patriotic emulation continues to be strongly promoted, spreading throughout all social classes. He observed that grassroots initiatives highlighted by the Department of Science and Technology and SGGP have created widespread influence, contributing to the city exceeding socio-economic and security targets.
For 2026, HCMC aims for double-digit growth, reaffirming its role as the nation’s primary engine. According to the Vice Chairman, to achieve this, emulation movements must continue to innovate and remain substantive, focusing on major breakthroughs. Emulation must be linked to growth model innovation, productivity enhancement, and public investment efficiency, with the satisfaction of citizens and businesses as the primary measurement criteria.
Accordingly, the city will create breakthroughs in institutions and public service discipline. All policies must be concretized by action, and all tasks quantified by specific results. In addition, the city will organize movements along the growth and productivity axis, focusing directly on the double-digit growth target. Each sector and locality is required to build a specific growth scenario with periodic evaluation mechanisms to ensure emulation creates real value.
The Vice Chairman also demanded a strong shift in mobilizing and exploiting resources, particularly accelerating public investment disbursement and unblocking land, finance, and innovation resources. The city will enhance growth quality based on the digital, green, and knowledge economies while encouraging high-value production models that contribute significantly to the budget and society.
At the conference, over 400 HCMC agencies, units, and localities pledged to the 2026 emulation. Vice Chairman Pham Minh Tuan of the Vietnam Fatherland Front – HCMC Branch affirmed his organization’s determination to transform emulation into a powerful driver for social consensus and solidarity.
Specifically, the focus centers on intensifying mobilization efforts to harness collective strength, ensuring the successful fulfillment of political mandates while promoting creative labor and social welfare.
According to the HCMC Union of Business Associations, the “Enterprises Innovating for City Development” movement has made innovation an intrinsic requirement for management and market engagement. Notably, the 2023-2025 period marked a robust transition from “digital support” to “operating on digital platforms,” enhancing growth quality and technological depth.
Meanwhile, Vung Tau Ward’s peak drive, “Determined Acceleration, Double Productivity,” prioritized elevating living standards. Consequently, this high-intensity campaign successfully drove the qualitative improvement of citizen welfare targets, reflecting the community’s commitment to sustainable urban development.
