'With businesses partnering with us, innovative ideas will be implemented sooner.'

Ho Chi Minh City: Innovative ideas need business support to become a reality, helping to achieve growth targets and apply them to life to serve society.

This message was shared by Mr. Tran Van Tung, Standing Member of the Steering Committee for Project 844, former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology , at the event summarizing and orienting activities of the Social Impact Village and Design Thinking Village, within the framework of the National Innovation Festival (Techfest) 2023 held in Ho Chi Minh City on the afternoon of November 23.

According to Mr. Tung, for a startup business, the process of formation, growth, and development requires going through many steps. This type of business is not a purely project but develops based on creative ideas, with the potential to grow tens, even hundreds of times.

He cited an example: two weeks ago, an inventor proposed a solution to evacuate hundreds of people from the upper floors of apartment buildings and high-rises to the ground in just a few minutes during a fire. International investors, upon contacting this inventor, negotiated the value of the idea at billions of Vietnamese dong. "This is just the negotiation value for the idea itself, not including the development of machinery, equipment, and operational models for this technology," Mr. Tung said, emphasizing the value of the innovative idea. After negotiations, the inventor was introduced to a large domestic corporation, which negotiated the purchase of the idea and its practical application in buildings. This project also attracted interest from many other businesses.

Based on this story, Mr. Tung believes that Vietnamese people actually possess a great deal of creative ideas. Inventors need the support of society and the partnership of businesses willing to help them realize their ideas. He hopes that this model will be increasingly spread through the attention of businesses, as in the story above, helping inventions develop into startups and transform ideas into products that serve life.

Mr. Tran Van Tung, Standing Member of the Steering Committee for Project 844 (Ministry of Science and Technology), shared this at the event on the afternoon of November 23. Photo: Ha An — Mr. Tran Van Tung, Standing Member of the Steering Committee for Project 844 (Ministry of Science and Technology), shared this at the event on the afternoon of November 23. Photo: *Ha An*

Mr. Tung stated that there are currently about 34 technology villages in various fields, playing a supporting role for Vietnam's innovation and startup ecosystem. This initiative was launched voluntarily by entrepreneurs, consultants, and those working within the ecosystem to help Vietnamese innovative ideas develop, scale up, and become future startups. "The Ministry of Science and Technology strongly supports this model and will continue to work alongside and support the development of the domestic startup ecosystem," he said. Currently, the Ministry of Science and Technology is establishing national innovation and startup support organizations in the North, Central, and South regions. Local authorities and organizations are gradually forming these centers to support startups.

According to Mr. Tran Xuan Dich, Deputy Director of the Department of Market Development and Science and Technology Enterprises (Ministry of Science and Technology), in recent years, through the Techfest series of events with increasingly larger scale and the participation of more and more technology villages, it shows the interest of the startup community and the development of an increasingly large-scale ecosystem. "I hope that the startup community will always explore new things and innovate to help develop a strong ecosystem," Mr. Dich said.

Dr. Duong Thi Kim Lien, Head of the Social Impact Village, said that in 2023, the unit organized 15 workshops and 3 startup competitions with many activities to support startup projects. Each competition alone had more than 120 startup teams participating. Outstanding projects received two weeks of training from Korean partners, mentoring support, and co-working space for six months. Projects also received support in connecting with and finding investors for further development. "We always aim to bring valuable ideas to investors and support projects with various resources to help develop the innovative startup ecosystem," said Dr. Lien.

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