Visitors view a product at Techfest 2022 in the south central coastal province of Khánh Hòa. — VNA/VNS Photo Đặng Tuấn

HÀ NỘI — Thanks to the continuing efforts of ministries and the Government, Việt Nam is striding ahead in innovation, with global organisations recognising the results of investment in start-ups and tech-based businesses.

Việt Nam has achieved results in innovation that outpace the country’s development for 12 consecutive years thanks to such efforts.

The 2022 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) shows that Việt Nam continues to be recognised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) as having a score much higher than the average of countries in the same income group.

In 2022, Việt Nam ranked 48th out of 132 countries and economies on the global innovation index, belonging to the group of countries that have made the greatest progress over the past decade.

Việt Nam is also one of the few low-middle-income countries recognised by the WIPO as having the fastest pace of catching up in terms of innovation.

In Southeast Asia, Việt Nam held third position on the innovation index, after Singapore and Thailand.

The report "Government AI Readiness Index 2022" conducted by Oxford Insights (based in the United Kingdom) on the artificial intelligence (AI) readiness index shows that Việt Nam ranks 55th globally (seven levels higher than in 2021) and ranked sixth in the ASEAN.

In 2022, the Global Start-up Ecosystem Report 2022 recorded that Việt Nam ranked 54th, five levels higher than in 2021.

Việt Nam currently has four technology "unicorns" namely VNG, Vnpay, Momo and Sky Mavis. They have helped to confirm the position of Việt Nam in the start-up "golden triangle" of Southeast Asia, next to Singapore and Indonesia.

Government’s efforts

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Bùi Thế Duy said that at the national level, since 2017, like many other countries, Việt Nam has used the global innovation index (GII) of the WIPO, which is published annually, in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the country to offer appropriate solutions and promulgate relevant policies.

Accordingly, the country has issued many policies such as Resolution No.05-NQ/TW of the Fourth Conference of the 12th Party Central Committee on a number of major policies to continue renewing the growth model, improving growth quality, labour productivity and competitiveness of the economy; Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress; the 10-year Socio-economic Development Strategy for 2021-30 and the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation Development by 2030, he said.

All of them affirmed that it is imperative to renew the country's growth model in the direction of "gradual transformation from relying on an increase of inputs of production to an increase of productivity, labour quality, application of science and technology and innovation,” he said.

Duy also said in an attempt to promote the development of artificial intelligence, in 2022, the ministry organised the event "Việt Nam Artificial Intelligence Day 2022" and coordinated with partners to build the capacity rankings in the field of artificial intelligence of research and training institutions in Việt Nam.

Based on the capacity rankings, the academic community and students will be able to choose where to study and work while the institutions have references to do well in research and training, he said.

Through the rankings, State managerial agencies will have more information to evaluate, thereby assigning appropriate tasks for the institutions, he said.

The rankings also contribute to the realisation of the National Strategy on Research, Development and Application of Artificial Intelligence by 2030, he said.

This year, the ministry plans to continue perfecting and renewing mechanisms and policies related to science, technology and innovation, focusing on implementing a number of key tasks of the national strategy to turn Việt Nam into a hub of innovation, development of AI applications in the ASEAN region and the world, he said.

Inspiring start-up spirit

A woman experiences virtual reality at an exhibition of Đà Nẵng City Innovation and Startup Festival in 2022. — VNA/VNS Photo Văn Dũng

Phạm Hồng Quất, director of the ministry’s Department of Market Development and Science and Technology Enterprises, said absorbing international experiences, Việt Nam issued project 844, creating a breakthrough in the development of the innovative start-up ecosystem in the country with 3,000 innovative start-ups.

Việt Nam now has more than 200 investment funds, over 100 business promotion organisations, and more than 130 universities and colleges with space to support innovation, creating a fairly-complete picture for the innovation ecosystem in the country, he said.

At the conference to deploy science, technology and innovation tasks of 2023, Minister of Science and Technology Huỳnh Thành Đạt said Việt Nam launched many innovative start-up support networks at local and regional levels last year, showing the growth of the innovative start-up ecosystem, arousing a strong start-up spirit across the country.

This is the result of eight years since Việt Nam organised the first National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Festival (Techfest), he said.

The Techfest model has spread across the country, with more than 10 regional and local events, he said.

In Hà Nội, the city's policies have promoted the start-up movement. As a result, the city became a "bright spot" for the start-up movement amid difficulties due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first quarter of last year, the city had an additional 6,350 newly-established enterprises, with total capital of VNĐ103 trillion (US$4.4 billion).

Besides, under the project "Supporting innovative start-ups in Hà Nội for the 2019-25 period", many policies have been implemented to support innovative start-ups such as giving financial support for newly-established businesses and funding for human resource training programmes related to innovative start-ups.

In HCM City, the city has carried out a project to support the development of innovative start-up ecosystems in the 2021-25 period, showing that many start-up and innovation ecosystems develop strongly, becoming the cradle of the start-up community across the country.

In 2022, the amount of venture capital in the city attracted to start-ups reached more than $1.1 billion, equivalent to 60 per cent of the capital of the whole country.

Established with the mission of exploiting and transferring innovation, start-up and investment services, the Innovative Entrepreneurship Centre of the Việt Nam National University Hồ Chí Minh City has recently deployed a 1-on-1 mentoring solution.

This is a start-up support space to help each project team connect with an expert to accompany them through the process of perfecting the business model.

Moreover, the launch of the Start-up Open series by the Innovative Entrepreneurship Centre has helped to increase the awareness of young entrepreneurs about start-ups.

Senior students of member schools of the university have an opportunity to access the start-up ecosystem early and participate in the model of small- and medium-sized enterprises created by the centre. — VNS