At the recent National Innovative Startup Festival 2024, Pham Hong Quat, Director of the Department of Market Development and Science and Technology Enterprises (the Ministry of Science and Technology), said that Vietnam’s innovative startup ecosystem is on the rise, affirming its potential and competitiveness in the region. However, the ecosystem is facing many challenges, especially in the context of the global capital market still having many fluctuations.
According to a report by the Tracxn Analytics Platform, total investment capital in Vietnamese technology startups has decreased by 52.7%, from 98.5 million USD in the first 6 months of 2023 to 46.5 million USD in the same period this year. This figure poses an urgent need to improve the quality and increase the resilience of startups through close cooperation between investors and support organisations.
Quat emphasised the need to improve the quality of startups, helping them develop with a long-term vision. To achieve that, it is necessary to organise more in-depth training programs, mentoring, and connecting direct investment funds with creative startup support centres to help startups better prepare for the capital calling and development process. This will be an opportunity for investors to share practical experiences, providing strategies to help startups build strong and sustainable business models.
In addition, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive support alliance for startups, not only in the incubation stage but also to support them in the expansion and commercialisation stages. A strong alliance will help create sustainable support platforms for startups, ensuring that these businesses can develop steadily, meet market demand and face competition.
Investors need to focus more on areas with long-term development potential and positive impacts on society, such as green technology, energy and logistics. These areas not only bring economic value but also help build a sustainable future in line with the development trend of modern society.
Nguyen Dinh Vinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Hai Phong, said that currently, the support for innovative startups at incubation centres still has many programs focusing on quantity without focusing on quality.
Therefore, it is necessary to increase the number of internationally experienced advisors and improve and integrate more practical elements from the international market into the incubation program, especially training sessions from experts with practical lessons. Cooperation and connection between venture capital funds and startup support centres contribute to improving the quality of innovative startups in Vietnam.
According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, innovative startup support centres are the core to mobilising, exploiting, linking and optimising resources in the ecosystem. This task has been assigned by the Prime Minister to the Ministry of Science and Technology as the focal point for implementation in Decision No.188/QD-TTg dated February 9, 2021, amending and supplementing Decision No. 844/QD-TTg dated May 18, 2016, approving the Project to Support the National Innovative Startup Ecosystem.
To carry out the above tasks, the Ministry of Science and Technology also issued Official Dispatch No. 3701/BKHCN-PTTTDN dated December 20, 2021, guiding the formation and development of creative startup centres in localities, ministries, branches, and organisations with potential for creative startup development, emphasising that the formation of the centre must be based on internal resources and practical needs of the locality, orienting the centre to become the core of the local ecosystem, a focal point for connecting and exploiting resources, linking regions and countries, and suggesting functions, tasks, and specific activities for implementation.
Currently, many units supporting creative startups have been formed nationwide, from the private and public sectors and international organisations, under many diverse models. In 20 localities, creative startup support centres have been established, nearly 100 incubators and business promotion organisations have been operating, and many international creative startup centres have opened branches or coordinated to open creative innovation spaces in Vietnam.
