Techfest 2019 is a part of the project ‘Supporting the national innovative startup ecosystem until 2025’ (Project 844) approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No.844/QD-TTg.

In this event, Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh shared that the strategic and critical role of startup ecosystems has been widely recognized in several formal governmental documents such as Resolution No.05-NQ/TW about major policies to reform growth models and improve working performance as well as national competitiveness, Resolution No.23-NQ/TW about directions on preparing policies for the national industrial development until 2030 with vision to 2045, Resolution No.52-NQ/TW about policies to actively participate in Industry 4.0.

Project 844 is one of the Prime Minister’s answers to implement the above documents and is now enthusiastically carried out all over the country, promoting the forming of a series of startup support organizations, co-working space, consultation teams for startup people.

“Techfesh 2019 boosts the cooperation to establish an innovative startup ecosystem, to form trust in the community for mutual development. Based on that, the whole society can effectively exploit science and technology as well as human resources for innovation”, said Minister Anh.

After 3 years launching, the national innovative startup ecosystem has created a legal corridor for innovative activities and investment in startup projects via the law to support small and middle scaled businesses, the law to transfer technology in 2017, along with related guiding documents.

Ministries are also introducing certain policies and programs like sandbox in the fintech field, the national innovation center, or the human resources training in foreign countries.

Thanks to those efforts, various organizations to aid innovative startup have been created nationwide, attracting the participation of 23 international counterparts. They are helping around 500 startups, 38 startup incubation centers, and over 170 common working spaces, resulting in promising brand names that have penetrated the global market.

The national innovative startup ecosystem has also encouraged universities to establish their own innovation centers and startup support centers. Noticeably, in 2019, 61 international innovative investment funds enter Vietnam, most of which are from the Republic of Korea and Singapore. Adding to them are domestic funds such as VinTech City and Next 100.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, in 2019, Vietnam has achieved an impressive growth on innovation in close accordance with the common national criteria. In the era of Industry 4.0, it is essential to apply creativity in connecting human resources and technologies to keep up with other nations in the world.

Statistics from ES Capital and Cento Ventures reveal that Vietnam is now standing at the third position out of six ASEAN nations as to startup ecosystem. Its Global Innovation Index (GII) ranking has continuously increased from 59 in 2017 to 45 out of 129 worldwide economies in 2019. The attracted capital in the first 10 months this year reached US$751 million.