Prime Minister: TECHFEST must undergo strong innovation to elevate its standing regionally and globally.

On the evening of December 13th, at the Ho Hoan Kiem pedestrian street (Hanoi), TECHFEST Vietnam 2025, themed "Creative Entrepreneurship for All - A New Driving Force for Growth," officially opened, organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Hanoi People's Committee.

Overview of the opening ceremony of TECHFEST 2025. (Photo: Techfest)

TECHFEST Vietnam 2025 takes place in the context of the nationwide implementation of Resolution 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and digital transformation, while the Government is finalizing the National Strategy on Creative Entrepreneurship.

This event holds special significance, as the spirit of "innovative entrepreneurship is the undertaking of all people" is concretized through a completely new organizational model, expanding the space and enhancing interaction so that people can directly access technology, business models, and startup support services.

In his keynote address, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his pleasure at attending the Opening Ceremony of TECHFEST VIETNAM 2025 - an important event that sows the seeds of ideas - promotes entrepreneurship - fosters technological breakthroughs - connects communities - brings together intelligence - and spreads benefits.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of TECHFEST 2015. (Photo: Techfest)

The event demonstrates the determination of the Party, State, Government, and business community to strongly promote the innovation ecosystem and entrepreneurial spirit, while conveying the message that "People and businesses are the center, the subjects, the resources, and the driving force; schools and science are key and pioneering; the State plays a role in creating development," affirming that Vietnam's aspiration for innovation is not just a slogan but a command from the heart, a thought from the mind, an action of entrepreneurship, and a driving force for development.

The Prime Minister assessed that national and international programs like TECHFEST are increasingly affirming their prestige, attracting the participation of a large number of experts, researchers, universities, businesses, and organizations from both domestic and international sources, and creating an attractive playground for startups.

“When each individual innovates, each business innovates, and the whole society innovates, the entire country will transform dramatically. And when the spirit of innovation spreads, Vietnam will take long strides on the path to rapid and sustainable development,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

In addition, the Prime Minister also pointed out that, although encouraging initial results have been achieved, due to a slower starting point, Vietnam's startup and innovation ecosystem still lags behind the region and the world, and is not yet commensurate with the potential, intelligence, and capabilities of the Vietnamese people.

To successfully achieve the above objectives, and contribute to the successful realization of the two centenary goals, the Prime Minister directed ministries, sectors, localities, and agencies to focus on effectively carrying out a number of tasks. Specifically:

Ministries, sectors, and localities, with the Ministry of Science and Technology playing a core role, should proactively improve institutions and policies, remove barriers to new business models and technologies; accept risks and challenges in the process of testing and deploying new models, and at the same time establish a synchronized, open, and transparent risk management and monitoring mechanism.

Research institutes, universities, other science and technology organizations, and businesses should promote entrepreneurship training from high school to postgraduate level; and build a system of in-depth training in STEM. At the same time, strengthen cooperation between the "State - Universities - Scientists - Investors" to strongly promote research, technology transfer, and bring research into practice as soon as possible.

Businesses and investors need to play a central role in innovation; proactively invest in new technologies and models, and participate in incubating and accelerating startups. This will foster a leading business ecosystem, especially in strategic technology sectors.

People, especially the younger generation, are strongly promoting the entrepreneurial spirit, daring to think, daring to act, daring to accept risks and failures, forming a culture of innovation throughout society.

Finally, the Prime Minister outlined the direction for next year's TECHFEST program to continue its strong innovation, elevating TECHFEST to a regional and international level, and deeply connecting the domestic and international ecosystems. TECHFEST must become a platform to attract international resources, investment funds, experts, and technology corporations; and to promote negotiations and the signing of investment agreements with technologically advanced countries.

Visitors experience the TECHFEST 2025 exhibition.

During the opening ceremony, the Organizing Committee honored 10 exemplary localities in developing the innovative startup ecosystem in 2025; and also presented commemorative plaques and vouchers to participate in the Innovation Center to the winning teams of the Data for Life 2025 competition, recognizing the efforts of the data technology community – a crucial force in the era of AI and big data analytics.