International connections to boost innovative startup activities

The conference ‘Innovation, Community, and Impact: Protocol for the Future’ has just been jointly held in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) by the open forum Kambria and Lixibox. It has brought about a comprehensive overview and international collaboration opportunities to the innovative startup community in Vietnam.

The Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh delivered a presentation in the conference. Photo by MC
The Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh delivered a presentation in the conference. Photo by MC

Many speakers in the conference came to the agreement that Vietnam possesses a great potential in high-tech human resources and a favorable environment for startup activities. The Asian technology market, especially the Vietnamese one, is truly promising thanks to its knowledgeable and industrious labor force.

However, experts suggested that Vietnam should create more policies and mechanisms so that startup businesses are able to propose their own recommendations to management organizations.

To lessen the technology gap between Vietnam and other developed countries like the US, there must be more people working in Silicon Valley, which is an ideal environment for technological development, in order to accumulate experience on expertise, skills, the operation and management of a startup business.

Experts also stated the importance of innovation and startup cultures, formed via the education of human resources. This leads to the need to deeply renovate the national education system so that critical thinking is fostered instead of passively absorbance of new knowledge.

The Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh shared that this was the era of swift development of advanced technology, bringing about breakthroughs in manufacturing lines and economic – social management methods. He agreed that there were various challenges in developing nations with very limited educational levels and resources.  

The Vietnamese government is now simultaneously implementing active solutions such as concentrating on infrastructure and digital economy development, renovating institution and trading environments, providing favorable conditions for businesses to quickly learn and apply new technologies, training the skillful human resources, boosting international cooperation and forming of innovative startup ecosystems, encouraging new innovative startup ideas to turn into reality.

The Minister mentioned that it is necessary for all related agencies to closely collaborate so that an innovative startup ecosystem can be formed. In this process, the government has to issue suitable incentive policies; venture capital funds, business angels and other private – public financial institutions need to provide sufficient investment; the essential infrastructure and startup aiding services, common working spaces, training and consultation staff, high-quality human resources from universities need to be available at hand; while giant enterprises should welcome startup businesses into the market or help them approach the global value chains.

All of the above actions form the startup culture for the young to bravely turn their innovative ideas into the reality.

“The international connection to accumulate more knowledge and experience or attract more investment is critical to the innovative startup community in Vietnam. This is one of the solutions to improve the quality and survival ability as well as competitiveness of startup businesses in the market,” said the Minister.

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