“Currently, Vietnam has not had any policies that are strong enough to promote breakthrough development for startups and innovation,” said Vien of Da Nang Department of Science and Technology. — Vietnam News
HANOI: Vietnam is seeking to improve mechanisms for centres for innovation and entrepreneurship to create favourable conditions for the operation and development of startup firms.
Science and Technology Minister Huynh Thanh Dat said that the startup ecosystem in Vietnam was evolving and growing rapidly.
Venture capital flow in Vietnam was rising again after the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, citing statistics that venture capital reached US$634mil in 2022 and US$413mil in the first six months of this year.
According to the ministry, spending on research and development in Vietnam remained modest, at just 0.5% of the gross domestic product.
Many startup and innovation support programmes had been implemented during the past decades, but there were still a few unicorn startups valued at US$1bil.
Currently, many startup support establishments have been founded across the country, both publicly and privately invested, and their operation models are diverse, he added.
Support centres were being founded in around 20 localities, with nearly 100 incubators and organisations.
Several international startup support organisations also opened branches in Vietnam, such as Block71 of Singapore in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Seoul innovation startup space, K-Startup of the South Korea, which was opened in Hanoi.
“Overall, the operation of startup support centres is still fragmented,” he said.
It was necessary to issue a detailed financial mechanism for startup support centres to ensure a synchronised operation of their support policies, Nguyen Viet Long, director of the Bình Duong Province Department of Science and Technology, said.
According to Le Duc Vien, director of the Da Nang Department of Science and Technology, Vietnam needed to develop a national startup support centre, along with an adequate legal mechanism, appropriate preferential policies and qualified human resources to lead others.
The national centre should be a public agency and operate for non-profit purposes, he said.
“Currently, Vietnam has not had any policies that are strong enough to promote breakthrough development for startups and innovation,” Vien said.
Nguyen Viet Dung, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology, said that startup and innovation centres should also provide other public services related to infrastructure, working space, equipment and training space.
“Besides, these centres should be allowed to use financial resources collected from leasing public assets and providing services to invest in startups.” — Viet Nam News/ANN
