Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính with students participating in the 7th National Start-up Festival for Students (SV.STARTUP 2025). — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HCM CITY — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has called on ministries, sectors and local authorities to enhance policies and mechanisms, particularly regarding finance and intellectual property, to foster a more supportive environment for student entrepreneurship and innovation.

Speaking on Sunday at the review conference for a student start-up support project and the launch of the 7th National Start-up Festival for Students, PM Chính emphasised that empowering youth is key to national strength.

He described young people as pioneers in science and technology, playing a vital role in shaping Việt Nam’s position in the digital era and transforming the country into a regional and global innovation hub.

“Innovation and entrepreneurship must be supported by a well-developed ecosystem,” the Prime Minister said, stressing the necessity to spark a movement, create trends, inspire and motivate young people through diverse mechanisms and policies. The goal is to ensure that innovation brings tangible benefits to students, their families, and society.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính visits the student start-up product showcases. VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

He stated that building a start-up ecosystem is a long-term strategy, not a short-term task. It requires comprehensive, fundamental solutions avoiding both perfectionism and haste.

To this end, PM Chính directed ministries and localities to improve policies on finance and intellectual property, promote public-private partnerships to help students develop ideas and bring products to market, establish student start-up support funds through socialised funding sources, and create idea exchange platforms and local mentorship networks.

The Prime Minister also instructed the Ministry of Education and Training to continue working with other agencies to establish start-up support centres, innovation spaces, incubators and accelerators within schools.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính takes a group photo with students participating in the 7th National Start-up Festival for Students. VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

He urged integration of entrepreneurship into the official curricula at all levels of education. Educational institutions, including universities, vocational schools and general education centres, must implement start-up support policies effectively; develop modern laboratories for research and product testing; and encourage faculty and students to participate in applied scientific research. They were also instructed to expand online training platforms and digital learning resources, and include innovation and entrepreneurship modules in academic programmes.

Schools were encouraged to connect with enterprises and start-up investment funds, build expert mentor networks in technology and entrepreneurship and support intellectual property registration and product commercialisation.

“The State, schools and businesses must strengthen their collaboration,” Chính said.

“Businesses should take the lead in placing orders, investing and accompanying students from practical training and internships to commercialising ideas. They must work alongside schools to inspire and guide the next generation.”

The government leader also called on the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union to expand its 'Youth Start-up' programme, with a focus on four key sectors: information technology and cybersecurity, medical and educational technology, environmental and energy technology and high-tech agriculture.

Under the framework of the 'Student Start-up Support Project' (Project 1665) carried between 2020 and 2024, student entrepreneurship in Việt Nam has seen remarkable growth. During this period, students nationwide have launched nearly 39,000 start-up projects, while middle and high school students have contributed close to 9,000 projects.

Notably, since 2020, nearly 300 start-ups have been founded from incubation programmes within higher education institutions.

Across the country, more than 2,000 faculty members and nearly 10,000 students have been recognised and honoured by their schools for outstanding contributions to entrepreneurship activities.

The 2025 National Start-up Festival for Students is jointly organised by the Ministry of Education and Training, the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union, and the People’s Committee of HCM City.

Starting on Friday, the event also included several notable seminars on breakthrough solutions to foster innovation in higher education institutions, supporting start-ups in vocational education amid the digital economy era, encouraging entrepreneurial thinking among students through career counselling and sharing inspirational start-up stories from young entrepreneurs.

A highlight of the event is the Grand Finale and Award Ceremony of the 7th ‘Students with Start-up Ideas’ Competition, which has become a prestigious platform for aspiring young entrepreneurs.

This year’s competition received an impressive 775 project submissions from students across universities, vocational schools and high schools nationwide. From this pool, the Ministry of Education and Training selected 125 outstanding projects to advance to the final round.

The submissions are notable for their diversity and quality, with many ideas aimed at solving real-world social and community challenges. Projects from university students particularly stood out for their integration of cutting-edge technologies, such as IoT, Big Data and AI. Several of these projects have already been implemented with initial success, entering profitable stages and demonstrating growth trajectories. — VNS