Ho Chi Minh City transforms into a regional innovation center - Part 2: Building infrastructure for a knowledge-based economy

Not only an economic locomotive, Ho Chi Minh City is gradually moving towards a new position – the center of technology and creative startups in Southeast Asia. With well-invested infrastructure, breakthrough policies and aspirations to reach new heights, the city is making great efforts in the journey of innovation.

Ready with international standard infrastructure

In the draft Political Report at the 1st Congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, term 2025-2030, the city identified the strategic goal of becoming a civilized, modern urban area, a center of innovation, dynamic and leading in the country's industrialization and modernization. By 2030, Ho Chi Minh City aims to have an international-standard innovation ecosystem, playing the role of a center in Southeast Asia, a place where global technology platforms and ideas converge.

Universities invest in modern machinery to help students apply modern technology. Photo: SX

To make that aspiration a reality, the city has identified infrastructure as a key foundation. Vice Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Tran Thi Dieu Thuy said that in recent years, the city has made strong progress in infrastructure supporting innovation, from co-working spaces, startup centers to databases and digital infrastructure. Thanks to this systematic investment, Ho Chi Minh City has become an attractive destination for Asian startups, where the government not only plays a management role but also a companion to businesses. Typically, the Ho Chi Minh City Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (SIHUB) has just been "launched". This center is expected to be a place to gather knowledge and connect the startup community. After only a short time of operation, SIHUB has become the core of the city's innovation ecosystem, gathering resources from the state, universities, research institutes, businesses and investment funds. The center implements incubation programs lasting from 6 to 12 months, supporting up to 400 million VND per project, helping many startup ideas transform into commercial products. Not stopping at incubation, Ho Chi Minh City is forming a complete value chain for innovation - from research, testing, commercialization to market expansion. Recent initiatives such as the International Finance Center, carbon trading floor, or Fintech testing area (regulatory sandbox) are opening up new connecting spaces for capital, technology and ideas.

According to the 2025 Local Innovation Index (PII) of the Ministry of Science and Technology , Ho Chi Minh City scored 59.33 points, ranking second in the country, leading in 13/52 indicators of science and technology infrastructure. This result reflects the efforts to build a safe and professional development environment for businesses, investors and research organizations. Currently, the city has large Vietnamese technology enterprises such as: VNG, MoMo, Sky Mavis, ... contributing to putting Vietnam on the regional technology map. A highlight is that G42 Group (UAE) is planning to invest in an AI Metadata Center worth nearly 2 billion USD in Ho Chi Minh City. This is considered a landmark project, paving the way for large capital flows into the high-tech sector. In addition, according to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, the city's startup ecosystem is currently worth 5.22 billion USD, ranking third in Southeast Asia, after Singapore and Jakarta (Indonesia). Many fields of Ho Chi Minh City have entered the global Top 100, such as Financial Technology - Fintech (54th), Educational Technology - Edtech (62nd), E-commerce & Retail (71st), Transportation (87th); Blockchain alone rose to 2nd place in Southeast Asia.

The city currently has more than 2,000 start-ups (accounting for 50% of the country), along with more than 100 venture capital funds and about 20,000 experts working in the field of science and technology. These numbers affirm that the city is not only an economic locomotive, but also a rising “creative destination” of Vietnam, where ideas, knowledge and technology converge, creating the foundation for a new breakthrough decade.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan, the rate of start-up enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City accounts for half of the country, which is a vivid proof of the creative and pioneering spirit of the city - where "every idea can become an enterprise, every enterprise can become a development platform". However, Professor Dr. Nguyen Ky Phung - Head of the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park, said that the big challenge now is to effectively connect available resources. "The city has more than 450 science and technology organizations, 134 laboratories, 123 intermediary units supporting innovation. The problem is how to connect them into a unified ecosystem, instead of operating as separate "creative oases", Mr. Phung emphasized.

Create a comprehensive development environment

Not only focusing on infrastructure, Ho Chi Minh City is making efforts to create a comprehensive development environment for innovation - from mechanisms, policies, technology to human resources. According to Mr. Lam Dinh Thang - Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City, in the period of 2025-2030, the city aims for the digital economy to contribute 30-40% of GRDP, TFP (total productivity) to reach at least 60%, aiming to become an international-class innovation center. The city also strives to be in the Top 100 most dynamic startup ecosystems globally, building 5 international-standard research centers in strategic technology fields. To achieve that goal, Ho Chi Minh City focuses on implementing three key breakthroughs. First breakthrough - Mechanism, policy and investment attraction. Ho Chi Minh City prioritizes building specific mechanisms to attract strategic investors in the field of science and technology. At the same time, Ho Chi Minh City promotes the development of High-Tech Parks, testing zones for new technologies, etc. The city also implements policies to support small and medium-sized enterprises in digital transformation, encouraging the private sector to invest in science and technology to create momentum for sustainable development. Second breakthrough - Strategic technology and creative ecosystem. Ho Chi Minh City prioritizes the development of core technologies, including: AI, cloud computing, semiconductor chips, robots, blockchain and biomedicine. Together with the National University, the city aims to build an international innovation center connecting four axes: in universities, in industrial parks - export processing zones, at public investment centers and according to the public-private partnership model. The third breakthrough is digital governance and digital human resources. Ho Chi Minh City promotes the development of digital data and smart operating platforms, towards a digital government operating on big data. “With determination and a methodical approach, Ho Chi Minh City can completely become a regional science and technology center,” Mr. Thang believes.

The Political Report of the Congress also clearly recognized that Ho Chi Minh City has not yet mastered high technology and core technology in key industries, and has not attracted enough international talent to become the main driving force of industrialization. From there, the city identified key targets for the 2025-2030 period, including: digital economy accounting for 30-40% of GRDP, total social expenditure on R&D reaching 2-3% of GRDP and at least 4-5% of the annual budget for science - technology and digital transformation.

The city always welcomes and commits to creating the most favorable conditions for businesses to invest, cooperate, transfer technology and develop together with the city. “Let’s build projects with long-term vision, bringing high and sustainable added value. We can cooperate in researching and developing core technologies, training high-quality human resources, and building a global supply chain,” said Ms. Tran Thi Dieu Thuy.

Ho Chi Minh City has the largest science and technology base in the country and the region, with more than 97 universities and colleges, many of which are internationally prestigious, such as Ho Chi Minh City National University. The city also has more than 450 science and technology organizations, 134 modern laboratories, and 123 intermediary organizations supporting research and innovation activities.

(To be continued)

Thanh Giang

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/tphcm-chuyen-minh-thanh-trung-tam-doi-moi-sang-tao-khu-vuc-bai-2-xay-ha-tang-cho-kinh-te-tri-thuc.html