The information was stated at the meeting of the Executive Board of the Project "Supporting the national innovation and startup ecosystem to 2025" (Project 844) organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology on the morning of March 28.

At the event, comments from ministries, research institutes, localities, enterprises... showed that since 2016, Project 844 has been issued and implemented, achieving many remarkable results. Currently, 60/63 provinces and cities have issued decisions approving the implementation plan of Project 844; about 20 localities have established centers to support innovative startups; 84 incubators and 35 business promotion organizations are operating nationwide.

The figures show that the Vietnamese creative startup ecosystem has been formed with all components including individuals/organizations of creative startups, angel investors, venture capital funds, support organizations (incubators, business promotion organizations), research parks, universities, networks of coaches/consultants, and facilities supporting creative startups research at universities and research institutes.

However, the ecosystem still needs to further promote close connectivity.
with businesses, corporations and educational institutions.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Minh also pointed out two major issues: the formation and management of innovation organizations and the policy mechanism to promote creative startups are still entangled, in both the public and private sectors. There are currently no regulations on support for creative startups; localities have not been able to use the facilities. In addition, in recent times, many concepts of innovation and creative startups have been used inaccurately, sometimes causing misunderstanding and confusion in management, especially in policy development and implementation.

According to statistics, there are over 30 terms used to talk about creative startups and innovation. Therefore, it is necessary to have official regulations, identify organizations, define functions and tasks, and develop preferential support policies.

In fact, innovation is the application of technology to life, production and business. Currently, the law does not have a legal framework for innovation, leading to a misunderstanding of innovative startups. This is also the reason for confusing innovative startups with small and medium enterprises (SMEs). "Therefore, building a legal framework for innovation is extremely necessary and important," the Deputy Minister explained.

Sharing the same view, former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung said that currently, the phrase "innovative start-up" is not used but "creative start-up", so it is necessary to clarify the concept and assign tasks among ministries and branches.

Mr. Tung proposed that there should be coordination between the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment to unify the development of policy mechanisms for the development of the innovation ecosystem and the national innovation system. In order to have a solid legal basis, it is urgent to develop a guiding decree to promote the development of the national innovation system at the same time as the national creative startup ecosystem. According to Mr. Tung, when there is a clear legal corridor, it will promote the development of creative startups, the application of technology in real life, and the application of science and technology transfer.

Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Planning and Investment Nguyen Tuan Anh said that his unit had proposed to use state public investment capital to build a center for both startups and innovation. However, when reviewing and submitting to the National Assembly, there was no document to base on. He believes that building a legal corridor and drafting a Decree is to create a legal corridor so that implementing units have a basis and a root to rely on.

At the event, many opinions from representatives of the Department of Science and Technology of Can Tho, Da Nang, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, enterprises such as Viettel, State Capital Investment Corporation... agreed and clarified the difficulties due to the lack of legal basis in implementing activities to promote innovation centers and creative startups. The opinions showed that it is necessary to propose the Government to develop a Decree regulating a number of contents on innovation and creative startups.

Deputy Minister Hoang Minh said that the proposals and recommendations will be compiled by the Ministry of Science and Technology and consulted with the Government to build a legal corridor, preferential policies and unified management.

In the next phase, to develop and implement effective support policies, perfecting the legal framework, especially clarifying the content of innovation and creative startups, and issuing regulations on types of organizations, functions, tasks and related activities, is a priority in policy development.

At the event, the Executive Board also discussed and agreed to evaluate the implementation results of Project 844 in 2024-2025 to submit to the Prime Minister the national program to develop the innovative startup ecosystem for the period 2026-2035.

Nhu Quynh