Vietnam commits to supporting innovative businesses and start-ups

CREATIVITY IS AN INVALUABLE RESOURCE OF VIETNAMESE PEOPLE

Speaking at Techfest Vietnam 2020 and the Youth Start-up Forum 2020 held on November 27th, 2020, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that two years before when he had attended the 4th Techfest, he had found 13.4 million results while searching for the "start-up" keyword online. The figure now is 20.7 million, found within 0.54 seconds. It meant the start-up spirit had been greatly spread among people of different ages, regardless of ethnic groups or religions. "There are no boundaries and limits when it comes to start-up," said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister expressed his delight when there were thousands of Vietnamese names on the global start-up brand rankings such as Coc, Vntrip, An Vui, HelloBacsi, and so on. However, the number is still not commensurate with the potential of a country with a population of nearly 100 million people.

"Perhaps, there are still numerous other valuable innovative start-ups in Vietnam that have not been updated or are missed on the rankings", the Prime Minister added.

At the same time, he also believes that the goal of a start-up is not merely seeking the way to make money and create a career, but also developing a philosophy of life, affirming and challenging itself, and testing its potential limits.

Sharing about the phrase "innovative start-up", the Prime Minister said that this keyword contained a deep connotation. As for him, the creativity must come from people and for people. People must be the center of creation. Vietnamese people have all innate qualities for creativity. "I believe our country will generate outstanding people if we provide them with adequate support. Let us incubate our dreams and realize our boundless innovative entrepreneurial ambitions", added Phuc.

The Prime Minister affirmed that the Government pledged to protect intellectual property rights, initiatives, and start-up ideas of young people because these are their valuable, even priceless or only properties. The Government will place special emphasis on investing in technology infrastructure, especially Information Technology - Telecommunications, to lay necessary foundations to encourage the country's economy to participate in digital transformation.

The Prime Minister urged ministries, agencies and local authorities to consider providing assistance for businesses and start-ups as the top priority in their agenda, as well as carefully review each recommendation and propose sound solutions. He also demanded ministries, agencies and localities to regularly hold dialogues and set up platforms to share information with and provide orientations for start-ups.

"The Party and the State always pay great attention to the young generation. Young people are not only the future potential and the current human resource, but also masters of the country. The government will create all favorable conditions for a creative and innovative start-up environment. Nevertheless, the success of start-ups depends on young people themselves", the Prime Minister concluded.

START-UPS BECOME THE CENTER OF DEVELOPMENT

Addressing the event, Mr. Huynh Thanh Dat, Minister of Science and Technology emphasized "2020 is a year with many changes and challenges around the world, requiring movement, adaptation, and transformation to achieve major breakthroughs. The core factor for dealing with such difficulties depends on whether a start-up may exploit, utilize resources to the maximal level and develop its advantages to overcome challenges. In addition, in 2020, the market in Vietnam is considered to be a safe destination chosen by investors and investment funds in the near future. The macroeconomic and fiscal situation is stable with the estimated GDP growth of 1.8% in the first half of 2020, expected to reach 2.8% for the whole year. Vietnam is one of the few countries in the world that do not forecast an economic recession.

In particular, after 8 years of negotiation, Vietnam has just signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the largest free trade agreement (FTA) in the world between ASEAN and five partner countries which are China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. This will be a marvelous opportunity for Vietnamese start-ups who want to enter the international market.

According to Minister Dat, the current innovative start-up ecosystem has entered a new stage which is crucial for development. Therefore, in order to develop the ecosystem and have big steps forward, it requires efforts and coordination from government agencies and start-ups to other actors in the ecosystem. Start-ups is the center of development, but they themselves  also  need  to  be  proactive  in  innovating, transforming growth models, and creating more values.

Minister Dat stressed that for Techfest to develop further in the new phase, Vietnam needed to focus on developing and connecting support centers for start-ups and innovation, especially at universities, colleges and research institutes, thereby encouraging and promoting the commercialization of research findings, and forming strong start-ups from this sector.

Moreover, it is essential to exploit available technical infrastructure, laboratories and test areas of vocational education and training institutions, to form technical support zones for innovative start-ups. In addition, intellect and human resource need to be the key for innovation and promotion through the system of education and training institutions, and others.

Finally, according to Minister Dat, it is mandatory to focus  on  forming  new  networking  platforms,  connecting spaces and opportunities for new achievements; quickly form the national network of innovative start-ups and link them with the international community.

"I wish that, through Techfest 2020, we will join hands to build an ecosystem of innovative startups and a philosophy of transformation to achieve breakthroughs and new accomplishments in the next stages," he added.

With the theme of "Adaptation - Transformation - Breakthrough", Techfest Vietnam 2020 once again demonstrated the Government's determination to create a credible ecosystem of innovative start-ups in the ASEAN region. The annual Techfest Vietnam event has affirmed Vietnam's reputation in the ASEAN region and around the world and become a brand with international prestige with a wide range of events connecting the community of innovative start-ups./.

Ngoc Diep