Live summary of the afternoon of September 15: Discussion session 2

Continuing the working program, at 3:30 p.m. on September 15, at the National Convention Center, Hanoi, under the chairmanship of Ms. Hasmik Hakobyan, Member of the Armenian Parliamentarians' Council, member of the IPU Young Parliamentarians' Forum Executive Board, the Conference held a discussion session on the topic 2 "Innovation and entrepreneurship".

Accordingly, the discussion session will focus on the following issues: (1) Perfecting institutions and policies in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship (including youth entrepreneurship) as a driving force for inclusive and sustainable development, including the food technology sector (foodtech); (2) Sharing experiences of parliaments in legislation, supervision and the role of young parliamentarians to promote innovation and entrepreneurship; (3) Exchanging and discussing the development of artificial intelligence contributing to the process of achieving SDGs; (4) Proposing to parliaments policies and solutions on building and perfecting institutions and policies to minimize risks related to artificial intelligence. After the opening remarks, delegates discussed and exchanged practical parliamentary experiences. The National Assembly Electronic Information Portal will continuously update the content of the meeting: 16:32: Cuban MP speaks Speaking at the Discussion Session, the Cuban MP said that innovation and startups are very important issues for developing countries, which can bring great added value to the economy. The Cuban MP said that Cuba is making efforts to promote government management based on creative science and technology through training programs that allow young people to participate in the process of transforming innovation into specific projects, contributing to the implementation of sustainable development goals. 16:25: Cambodian MP speaks The Cambodian MP sincerely thanks the Vietnamese National Assembly for organizing this very meaningful conference with a warm and thoughtful welcome. Cambodia has implemented a national strategy to become a developed country by 2050. This strategy is based on five pillars: comprehensive development, economic development, trade promotion, sustainable development, inclusion and finally creating sustainable employment opportunities using digital technology. In Cambodia, startups have grown strongly in recent years, forming an ecosystem supported by appropriate policies and frameworks, focusing on developing digital platforms and increasing financial support. In addition, Cambodia also has digital socio-economic frameworks. Fintech and e-commerce are growing strongly. Many new startups focus on areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture and green technology. These are all areas with strong impacts. Cambodian parliamentarians hope to receive more financial and technological support to continue to develop further in the future. 16:23 Representative of the Finnish Young Parliamentarians Delegation According to the Finnish delegate, artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications are becoming more and more popular and present in life. Digital technology in general and AI in particular bring great opportunities but also have risks. These risks need to be understood and grasped, the Finnish delegate emphasized. The young delegate from Finland expressed concern that AI has been used in weapons today and is likely to be popular in the future. The development and use of weapons, especially weapons with technological applications, threaten world peace and push the parties into more tension. The issue is to consider whether these weapons are used for the right purposes. 16:19: Brunei MP speaks Thanking the IPU and the Vietnamese National Assembly for inviting the delegation to attend the Conference, the Brunei MP said that Brunei is determined not to fall behind in major global trends such as big data and the Internet of Things. Brunei has made great efforts to promote innovation, start-ups, and equip the young generation with necessary knowledge and skills to be ready to start a business. Brunei also has mechanisms to inspire and promote creativity to carry out digital transformation. In addition, Brunei also has projects to promote the application of modern technology in agriculture, and has agencies in charge of implementing action plans to empower young people. Acknowledging the rapid development of artificial intelligence, the Brunei MP said that AI is an indispensable tool for the future. Emphasizing that the problems of the new era cannot be solved without the cooperation of the young generation, the Brunei representative hopes that close coordination and experience sharing between countries will be the basis for implementing more effective solutions in the future. 16:17: Burkina Faso MP speaks Speaking at the second thematic discussion session, Burkina Faso MP shared his country's experience. Although the country's security and health conditions are still difficult, Burkina Faso has made efforts to promote innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. The government has submitted a draft law and passed the Law on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, allowing young people to establish businesses with favorable conditions, tax incentives and financial mechanisms. Burkina Faso MP cited that the country has the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund, the National Program of Burkina Faso, which aims to support 150 thousand dollars for startups that have a positive impact on society and the environment. There are also training programs for startups and have been implemented over the past 4 years. 16:14: Irish MP speaks Irish MP said that Ireland is a country with a developed pharmaceutical industry, a strong startup ecosystem with close coordination between universities. During the period 2005-2013, Ireland had a high unemployment rate in the European region, but now this country has created about 800 thousand new jobs. To achieve this result, Ireland has focused on investing in the startup sector, with 16 technology portals and more than 300 researchers from universities, closely coordinating with 3,500 universities... Irish MP hopes that, through this Conference, the experiences and sharing of countries will bring useful information to promote innovation and startups. 16:10: Moroccan MP speaks Speaking at the Discussion Session, the Moroccan MP said that in Morocco, startups are developing and operating very strongly. After 2019, Morocco has more than 2 thousand newly established startups. The Moroccan government also has many support policies in the field of innovation and startups, focusing on areas such as technology, new energy, etc. However, the Moroccan MP said that these startups still have difficulties in accessing capital, which Morocco will need to solve in the coming time. 16:06: Algerian MP speaks At the discussion session, sharing about Algeria's mechanism to empower youth, encourage youth to participate in contributing to society through innovation, start-ups, and information technology, delegates said that Algeria has had an innovation development policy in 2016, aiming to implement sustainable development goals. The goals set by Algeria are all strongly influenced by the shift and development of information technology, innovation and digital transformation in all fields. Algeria has a Joint Committee to promote this development, promote innovation and ensure intellectual property rights. Over the past 2 years of operation, Algeria has promoted many innovation projects.

Over the past two years, Algeria has had programs to promote a knowledge-based economy, paying special attention to youth-led projects, creating business incubators. Algeria also has nearly 100 projects, 15% of which are implemented by universities and young people. In addition, there are also projects for the development of the East African region. These initiatives are supported by the government; these projects are linked to multinational companies. Therefore, it is believed that these projects are very suitable to promote innovation in Africa in general. Emphasizing the importance of promoting the role of women and groups in mountainous, remote and isolated areas, the MP said that their geographical location and gender should not be a barrier to achieving their goals and ambitions. At the same time, it is clear that women need to have the same rights, security as men and access to digital technology. 16:03: Chinese parliamentarian speaks The Chinese parliamentarian said that the strong impact of technology on industrial transformation is surprising. Through analyzing data from enterprises, with the power of big data and artificial intelligence, Chinese enterprises have achieved many remarkable achievements. In the financial sector, the Chinese parliamentarian said that he has supported banks to develop a new credit assessment system, using algorithms as the foundation, analyzing start-up and innovation cases, detecting strengths and weaknesses so that the Government can make more appropriate adjustments to facilitate economic growth and promote economic efficiency.

The Chinese parliamentarian also said that a series of models in many different fields and industries have been analyzed to provide more personalized information in real time. Half of the enterprises in the startup market are led by technology experts. With these brains, enterprises will provide services to many fields that have not yet received much support from digital technology, thereby creating new momentum to promote economic development, strengthen cooperation, and move towards a digital future with more benefits for countries. 16:02: Mr. Wilson Soto Palacios, Member of the National Assembly of Peru and Member of the Executive Board of the IPU Young Parliamentarians Forum moderated the discussion session

Moderating the discussion, Mr. Wilson Soto Palacios thanked the presentations for the many ideas shared. Next, we will discuss how parliaments have done to promote innovation and creativity. Each speaker will have 3 minutes to speak. 15:55: Beniam Gebrezghi, Civil Society and Youth Specialist, Government Management and Peacebuilding Group at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presents a paper UNDP representative Beniam Gebrezghi expressed his pleasure to accompany the Global Young Thinkers Conference, highly agreeing with the sharing of the delegates at the conference, highly appreciating the results achieved with many advances and breakthroughs in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. UNDP representative Beniam Gebrezghi said that UNDP currently has the largest youth entrepreneurship program in the Asia-Pacific region with 202 partners. Before this project, UNDP realized that there were many initiatives being implemented but there was no regional channel to have a centralized incubator for youth innovation and entrepreneurship. Different from other projects, this UNDP project focuses on the spirit of entrepreneurship and skills for youth in the 21st century to provide skills for youth to be able to adapt in the changing environment and world context. According to the representative of UNDP, this program currently has partners such as the International Labor Organization, or financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank... From there, strategic centers are established in countries and national-oriented projects are carried out in a number of countries. Representative of UNDP Beniam Gebrezghi emphasized whether policies on innovation and entrepreneurship are truly inclusive of youth, gender or vulnerable groups. To have a basis for assessing these issues, UNDP recently published a handbook on policy assessment tools, legal frameworks that facilitate youth in 6 areas such as human resources, culture, law... and at the same time provide lessons for countries. In addition, UNDP also has many other toolkits for start-ups and creative startups to build an inclusive innovative startup ecosystem and emphasize the participation of the whole community in these efforts. 15:49: Ms. Tingyu Yuan, Manager at HICOOL, an expert in the field of technology enterprises and has expertise in management and law.

Speaking at the Discussion Session, Ms. Tingyu Yuan, Manager at HICOOL shared some of China's views on promoting startup innovation, such as building a national regulatory system to promote startups, providing finance, simplifying and reducing administrative barriers. Accordingly, businesses only need to register online without having to go directly to management agencies, thereby encouraging many people to participate in startups. In addition, China has also introduced tax reduction policies with suitable financial tools for startups, enhancing financial knowledge for businesses, and increasing the application of policies with specific policies.

In recent times, HICOOL Company has had many policies to support start-up businesses, with specific mechanisms such as green technology, medical technology, cultural innovation, food technology, agricultural technology, etc. Every year, the company organizes a city-wide event with awards, support programs, and start-up training. This is an event for domestic and foreign businesses to express their ideas about start-ups; at the same time, it is an opportunity for companies and people with start-up ideas to better understand China's start-up policies. 15:43: Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung - CEO of Sky Mavis speaks Speaking at the discussion on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung stated that he is an enthusiastic technology engineer, a passionate gamer and also a daring entrepreneur. His journey with blockchain technology began in 2018, when everything about blockchain at that time was still very vague. After 3 years, Axie Infinity became a blockchain game that reached the milestone of 3 million players, financially supported a group of unemployed people facing difficulties during the COVID pandemic, and became a worldwide phenomenon. Although the game is not really perfect, looking back on the journey, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung found those achievements to be truly proud.

To achieve unprecedented success, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung's company had to face bankruptcy, was hacked and lost a huge amount of money. However, after all those failures, his company has come back strongly. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung believes that in the period when the 4.0 technology revolution is taking place strongly, technology startups like Sky Mavis are contributing to paving the way and exploring new fields, but they are truly capable of changing almost every aspect of life. AI, Blockchain, IoT, Machine learning are keywords that have been mentioned a lot and continuously recently and startups in these fields are being rapidly replicated in a short time. This will be the decisive factor in the existence and development of new technologies, for Mr. Trung, it is the startup ecosystem. In the field of blockchain technology in particular, Vietnam has a complete advantage and is at the same starting point as other countries in the world. Seizing the time and focusing on effective investment in the new field will be an opportunity to bring a developing country to stand shoulder to shoulder with the technology powerhouses. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung focused on the core point that can create a great momentum for Vietnam to make a breakthrough, which is the policy and legal framework for blockchain technology, and the startups operating in this field.

Blockchain technology and related elements such as digital assets should be officially defined and recognized, as a premise for legalization and promulgation of related policies. In addition, it is necessary to properly propagate through mass media: both encouraging learning about new technology and warning about limitations and risks. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung believes that practical measures of the State will contribute to bringing a much more positive and clear view of this new technology field.

In addition, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung said that businesses operating in the field of blockchain technology need a clear legal corridor, which will greatly help in orienting the development of businesses. 15:38: Mr. Denis Naughten, Member of Parliament of Ireland and Chairman of the IPU Committee on Science and Technology, spoke.

Speaking at the Discussion Session, Mr. Denis Naughten, Irish MP and Chairman of the IPU Science and Technology Committee, said that we need to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the curriculum. At the same time, we also need to encourage the use of science and technology... Chairman of the IPU Science and Technology Committee, Irish MP, Mr. Denis said that if we want to maintain our leading position in such a harsh environment, countries need to promote research in all business sectors and establish business networks to support new technology initiatives. 15:36: Mr. Wilson Soto Palacios, Member of the National Assembly of Peru and Member of the IPU Young Parliamentarians' Forum Board Delighted to chair the second session on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Mr. Wilson Soto Palacios, Member of the National Assembly of Peru and Member of the IPU Young Parliamentarians' Forum Board said that in this session, delegates will focus on the role of Parliament in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship as a driving force for inclusive and sustainable development. The session will discuss development trends, such as the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how to promote youth-led initiatives.

Delegates delivering keynote speeches at the discussion session included: Mr. Denis Naughten, Member of Parliament of Ireland and Chairman of the IPU Committee on Science and Technology; Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, Founder and CEO of Sky Mavis; Ms. Tingyu Yuan, Manager at HICOOL; Mr. Beniam Gebrezghi, Civil Society and Youth Specialist, Governance and Peacebuilding Group at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

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