On the morning of April 3, the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City organized a workshop on solutions to promote the development of the innovative startup ecosystem in Ho Chi Minh City by 2030.

Submit and receive documents once

Mr. Lam Dinh Thang - Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City - said that Resolution 57 is an important boost to help Ho Chi Minh City have more political and legal basis to realize the development strategy in the new period. In which, the city clearly identified science, technology and innovation as the main growth drivers in the next era.

"HCMC is very receptive and wants to listen to insiders, experts, scientists, and businessmen, to understand which direction the city should go, which solutions to choose, and which areas to prioritize in order to move faster and more effectively," said Mr. Thang.

According to Startup Link’s rankings, Ho Chi Minh City is currently ranked 111th out of 1,000 cities with the most dynamic innovative startup ecosystems globally. However, according to Mr. Thang, the goal that Ho Chi Minh City is aiming for is not simply the ranking, but more importantly, the comprehensive improvement of the investment environment.

To do so, Ho Chi Minh City will focus on three pillars: policy - infrastructure - human resources.

Regarding policy, Mr. Thang said that Ho Chi Minh City needs to have truly "attractive" mechanisms, not just stopping at simplifying administrative procedures.

One of the ideas being researched by the city is a specialized “one-stop shop” model for innovative start-ups. Accordingly, any individual or group wishing to establish an innovative start-up in Ho Chi Minh City will only need to go to a single reception point, where there is a specialized officer who will act as a liaison with relevant departments and agencies to handle all procedures.

According to Mr. Thang, "one-stop shop" does not mean entering a room with all the representatives of the departments sitting together so that the business still has to go through each person. Instead, this model aims for one person to receive, monitor and be responsible for handling the entire process. Businesses submit documents once and receive results at a single place.

To operate this mechanism, Mr. Thang emphasized that Ho Chi Minh City will have to reorganize the entire working process, administrative regulations and clearly assign responsibilities among units, to ensure efficiency and substance.

Regarding infrastructure, Ho Chi Minh City determined that it is necessary to invest not only in workspaces, but also in building a network of research centers, investment funds and startup support units to create close connections throughout the ecosystem.

Regarding human resources, Ho Chi Minh City is coordinating with universities to implement a large program called "Startup University", aiming to equip students with the spirit, knowledge and skills to start a business right from when they are still in school.

The Department of Science and Technology will issue support policies with specific criteria, while universities are the direct operating units.

In addition, the city also has a plan to foster and improve entrepreneurial capacity for workers and the existing business community, through connecting with training institutions, specialized programs and flexible, practical support mechanisms.

Scholarship for innovative start-up students

At the workshop, Mr. Tran Ninh Dong, acting head of the Department of Intellectual Property and Innovation Management of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology, said that from the startup support policy according to Resolution 20/2023 of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, the department has implemented receiving two batches of applications with a total of 40 registrations in 2024.

As a result, 233 projects were selected for support, including 209 projects in the pre-incubation and incubation stages, and 24 acceleration projects. The total support budget for these projects is more than VND 22 billion.

Adding more ideas to the development of the creative startup ecosystem in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Tran Duy Khiem, representative of Expara Investment Fund (Singapore) in the Vietnamese market, said that the company had cooperated with three universities in the program of commercializing scientific research projects, but the results had not met expectations.

Mr. Khiem believes that there needs to be more in-depth programs and more substantial connections between universities and businesses, thereby promoting the process of technology transfer and application of research results into practice.

From another perspective, Mr. Nguyen Khac Viet Bach, director of BlockBase Investment Fund, expressed concern about the lack of specialized training programs for startups in Vietnam.

According to Mr. Bach, currently most activities are still limited to short-term workshops in universities, while resources for systematic and long-term training are still very limited, especially when compared to developed countries like the US or Singapore.

"The State can grant scholarships to universities to open international training programs specializing in innovative startups. Students who receive scholarships need to commit to starting a business domestically after graduation, to create a deep and sustainable ecosystem," Mr. Bach proposed.