Many policies to support startups

At the workshop “Solutions to promote the development of the creative startup ecosystem in Ho Chi Minh City by 2030 and the announcement of the program to select and incubate innovative projects and creative startups by 2025”, organized by the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City on the morning of April 3, experts and businesses discussed and proposed policies to create favorable conditions for creative startups.

Thereby, helping businesses have the opportunity to connect with financial support packages, training consulting, and testing connections, aiming to make Ho Chi Minh City the leading creative startup center in the region.

Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City Lam Dinh Thang said that Ho Chi Minh City has identified science and technology, digital transformation, and innovation as strategies for the city's development in the new period. Since the beginning of the year, Ho Chi Minh City has issued more than 10 action plans and programs, and organized nearly 10 thematic seminars to effectively implement Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW.

The city hopes that insiders, experts, and scientists will contribute ideas to help Ho Chi Minh City move quickly and effectively, with the goal that within the next 5 years, the city will have the number of innovative enterprises double (currently accounting for 50% of the country), the city's budget expenditure for science and technology accounts for 3% of the city's total budget expenditure, and the city's patent rate will increase by 16-18% each year.

Based on the existing foundation and strengths, Ho Chi Minh City is choosing 3 areas to focus on for breakthroughs, including: Policy, infrastructure, human resources. In the policy area, it is necessary to focus on simplifying administrative procedures, simplifying capital access procedures and many other policies to promote creative startups.

“Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has an idea and proposes a one-stop creative startup investment policy. Specifically, individuals/enterprises who want to innovate only need to go to a single department to register to receive documents. This department will be responsible for consulting and connecting with all state agencies in the city to resolve related issues and procedures. This is a large model that the city is aiming for. When implementing it, it is necessary to reorganize the working process, administrative procedures, and related regulations…”, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology Lam Dinh Thang emphasized.

In addition, high-quality human resources also play a very important role in the city's development. In the near future, Ho Chi Minh City, together with institutes and universities, will organize the "Startup University" model, in which the city will create support policies and set out guiding criteria; universities and colleges will play an operational role.

Strengthen cooperation and training

Mr. Nguyen Khac Viet Bach, Director of BlockBase Investment Fund, pointed out that the current training programs in Vietnam do not have a specialized training framework on startups compared to other developed countries in the region, especially at the university level. Therefore, he also proposed that it is necessary to strengthen training on creative startups, the state can invest capital to provide scholarships to universities, and cooperate with famous international universities to train students on startups...

“The city needs to have an open-door policy to attract international investors and foreign startups to Vietnam, so that Vietnamese human resources can learn from experience, skip steps, promote the formation of startups, and create products based on existing platforms,” Mr. Nguyen Khac Viet Bach suggested.

On the business side, Ms. Nguyen Huong Quynh, CEO of BambuUp, commented that Ho Chi Minh City aims to have 5,000 new startups by 2030 (equivalent to about 300-400 startups/year), this number is not simple. According to BambuUp's statistics, the number of startups in Vietnam has hardly changed in recent times, so the city needs to re-evaluate the resources to create startups. In the world, resources to create startups come from individuals, universities and businesses, however, quality startups mostly come from universities and businesses.

To achieve the set goals, Ms. Nguyen Huong Quynh said that Ho Chi Minh City needs to re-establish a clear positioning and innovation strategy for the city (as a technology testing ground or an Innovation lab for a specific field); create a strong and diverse enough launch pad for startups (policies, capital sources); promote the strong participation of corporations and innovative enterprises, which are the units participating in supporting and using solutions, creating markets for startups; maximize international connections, in order to attract talent from abroad to Vietnam...

“We are ready to accompany the city’s innovative startup program through joint programs, training to accelerate innovation for businesses. Design development programs, international cooperation for startups that are large enough or connect international resources for the city’s innovative startup activities,” shared Ms. Nguyen Huong Quynh, CEO of BambuUp.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/de-xuat-chinh-sach-mot-cua-ho-tro-khoi-nghiep-doi-moi-sang-tao-post789020.html