Launch pad for incubating student startup ideas

Incubate ideas

At the Danang City Innovation and Startup Festival - SURF 2025, the LotusEase project - a semi-automatic fresh lotus seed shelling machine by a group of students from the University of Technical Education, Danang University, won the Encouragement Prize in the Danang City Innovation and Startup Competition 2025. This is the only project implemented by students to be honored in the final round of the competition.

It is known that LotusEase is a semi-automatic mechanical device that helps peel fresh lotus seeds with a capacity of up to 50kg/hour and an intact finished product rate of up to 91%.

With production costs much lower than imported or large-scale production machines on the market, the product is suitable for many production scales, contributing to the mechanization and modernization of the agricultural processing industry.

The initial achievements of the LotusEase project also clearly reflect the orientation of turning students' research ideas into commercializable products that the University of Technical Education is implementing.

Associate Professor, Dr. Vo Trung Hung, Vice Principal of the University of Technical Education, Danang University, acknowledged that in the city's general innovation and startup ecosystem, universities play an important role as incubators of innovation and startup ideas.

Within the school, the ecosystem structure is quite complete, including: the innovation and startup research institute; startup club; innovation and employment center; system of factories, laboratories... At the same time, providing students with topics, financial support in research and application activities to realize startup ideas.

Not only the University of Technical Education, many other training institutions in the area are also proactively forming "incubators" right in the school, creating a favorable environment for students' startup ideas to germinate and develop.

Vice President of Dong A University Luong Minh Sam said that over the years, the school has built an innovative startup ecosystem.

The primary focus is on designing a practical training program, equipping students with entrepreneurial skills, the ability to research and develop ideas into complete projects, helping students to be confident and capable of pursuing a career in entrepreneurship and innovation.

In addition, the school also established a fund to support scientific research and startups; put into operation the "Dong A Innovation Space" innovation space; regularly organizes annual startup competitions and encourages students to participate in playgrounds at the city and regional levels.

At the same time, the school actively connects with businesses and mentor teams to accompany, advise, and support students in the startup process.

[ VIDEO ] - Promoting the role of universities in the startup ecosystem

Promote cooperation and connect resources

Recently, the innovation network of universities and colleges in Da Nang city was established with the goal of connecting universities and colleges in the area, promoting cooperation, sharing resources, and spreading the spirit of innovation throughout the academic and startup community.

This is a practical initiative to promote research, technology application, product development and knowledge transfer from schools to the market.

The network launch event marks the strong commitment of training institutions in accompanying the city in building a dynamic innovation ecosystem, closely linking the State - universities, colleges - businesses - investors - supporting organizations.

As one of the 10 member schools of the network, Mr. Luong Minh Sam, Vice President of Dong A University, said that the network is an opportunity for schools to exchange experiences on training programs, methods to promote innovative startups, as well as provide direct support for startups and potential projects.

At the same time, the association will maximize the role of universities, lecturers and students in building the city's innovative startup ecosystem.

Along with participating in the network, Dong A University is gradually perfecting its own startup ecosystem, focusing on connecting with other schools, businesses, and startup communities inside and outside the city.

The school aims to train in the spirit of entrepreneurship, introducing credits on innovation, entrepreneurship and scientific research into all majors, so that students are equipped with the necessary foundation for the path of entrepreneurship. From there, it contributes to forming a young generation ready to start a business, in line with the national orientation of entrepreneurship.

Associate Professor Dr. Vo Trung Hung also said that in the process of building a startup ecosystem, in addition to developing internal models, the University of Technical Education also aims to turn Campus 1 into an "Innovation Hub" - an open innovation center, inviting businesses to set up laboratories and research centers right here. The second major orientation is to support students in turning applied research topics into feasible startup projects.

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Some student projects have been approached by businesses, asked to cooperate and support the completion of products for commercialization. We also actively participate in the innovative startup ecosystem at the city, national and regional levels; cooperate with incubation centers such as Song Han Incubator, DNES... to help students gain more knowledge, practical experience and gradually achieve specific results in this field.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Trung Hung, Vice Principal of University of Technical Education, University of Danang