Innovation Week and Techfest Hai Phong Startup Day 2023

On the morning of September 18, the Innovation Week and Startup Festival (Techfest Hai Phong 2023) with the theme "Hai Phong - City of Innovation" opened with the participation of businesses from Vietnam and 5 other countries.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Le Xuan Dinh said that Techfest Hai Phong 2023 is one of the city's science and technology activities that is highly appreciated by the business community. The event attracted the participation of many experts, scientists, startups, and businesses, promoting domestic and international connections.

According to Deputy Minister Le Xuan Dinh, the special point of this year's event is that it has developed into a continuous series of activities - a new approach that contributes to making Techfest Hai Phong a festival of innovation and technology, responding to the national Techfest.

The Deputy Minister said that Hai Phong has many favorable conditions to promote innovation and start-up activities, with 4 universities, many research institutes, and large enterprises, including high-tech enterprises. The Deputy Minister believes that the locality needs to further deploy and develop innovation and start-up activities, becoming a pillar in building the regional innovation ecosystem and connecting the country and the world.

Outlining three key tasks, the Deputy Minister emphasized that Hai Phong needs to continue to create resources, nurture ideas and initiatives to build a dynamic innovation ecosystem. "In particular, the startup culture needs to be sown right from school with STEM lessons, innovative thinking and knowledge are necessary, and the tools of deep philosophy can be applied in life," said Deputy Minister Le Xuan Dinh.

In addition, exploit and deploy local competitive advantages, focusing on industries and fields that are developing strongly in Hai Phong and neighboring areas such as logistics, tourism, cuisine, seaports; Strengthen and encourage innovation from enterprises, especially from mature enterprises, state-owned enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises through cooperation; Develop open innovation models to exploit the potential for applying new technologies and new models to traditional industries and fields.

The Deputy Minister of Science and Technology also said that developing pilot spaces and testing innovation will help encourage start-up activities. Activities that enhance interaction between management agencies and the start-up community help promote and provide appropriate support for ecosystem components.

Vice Chairman of Hai Phong City People's Committee Hoang Minh Cuong said that the city pays much attention to activities at Techfest 2023 with the expectation of promoting innovative solutions in the fields of digital technology, agriculture, automation, tourism and cuisine, developing online platforms, new business models to support market access, and creating breakthroughs in commercializing local products.

Since its first event in 2017, Techfest Hai Phong has featured more than 700 innovative startup products, organized 200 investment connections and 6 startup competitions, attracting more than 5,000 participants. "There are dozens of innovative startups developing, dozens of businesses becoming science and technology businesses," said the Deputy Minister.

With the theme "Hai Phong - City of Innovation, Acceleration and Shine", the Festival is expected to create a launching pad for innovative businesses to accelerate and shine. This year, 110 booths from 6 countries from the Netherlands, Korea, Israel, Singapore, China and Vietnam will contribute to introducing technology connections, OCOP products and the city's key products, encouraging innovation activities. Mr. Cuong hopes that activities such as talent search competitions, startup connection seminars, and workshops will gather experts and managers to create opportunities to find partners, investment opportunities, and make practical contributions to the local economy.

Techfest Haiphong 2023 is organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology of Hai Phong from September 18 to 21. The festival attracts more than 500 businesses, with more than 110 booths displaying technology and innovation products and 60 online booths. Compared to previous years, the new point of Techfest Haiphong 2023 is international connectivity, with delegates from many countries such as Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, and South Korea.

The program includes a series of activities related to the topic of connecting Vietnamese and Korean innovative businesses, a discussion connecting startups with investors; a workshop discussing the innovative startup ecosystem. The contest "Searching for innovative startup talents in Hai Phong 2023" also awarded the first prize worth 50 million VND to the KiKai Factory software project; and awarded 2 second prizes, 3 third prizes and 4 consolation prizes./.

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