HCM City leaders attend the inauguration of the Saigon Innovation Hub, meant to promote science, technology, and innovation. — Photo sggp.org.vn

HCM CITY — HCM City is accelerating its science, technology and innovation agenda with the passage of nine key resolutions at its People’s Council meeting, marking a significant step towards realising its long-term development vision.

The resolutions, which also apply to newly merged provinces Bình Dương and Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu, are expected to serve as a driving force for rapid and sustainable growth based on knowledge, creativity and technology.

In early 2025, the Party Committee issued an action programme to implement the Politburo’s Resolution 57-NQ/TW, which aims to create breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation.

The programme highlights science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation as the city’s key strategic breakthroughs.

Lâm Đình Thắng, director of the Department of Science and Technology, said the city has a comprehensive policy covering tax incentives, financial support and measures to attract high-quality human resources for research and innovative start-ups.

The city boasts strong scientific and technological capabilities, a dynamic start-up ecosystem and a large cohort of researchers and scientists at universities and institutes across the southern key economic region.

The adoption of these resolutions is expected to provide a solid framework for the city to make breakthroughs in science and technology and effectively implement Resolution 57.

The city established the Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB) in 2016 to nurture technology start-ups and foster collaboration between businesses, universities and research institutes.

SIHUB has since become a driving force for the local innovation ecosystem, supporting more than 3,000 start-up projects, organising hundreds of innovation events and connecting local entrepreneurs with partners from countries like South Korea, Singapore and Finland.

Building on that foundation, the city is now moving toward creating internationally standardised centres of excellence (CoEs) in key fields such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and semiconductor design.

These aim to strengthen applied research and commercialization of technology while positioning the city as a regional science and innovation hub.

In the first nine months of 2025 the city piloted several policies to promote the commercialisation of research outcomes and the development of CoEs.

It has given the green light to two public science and technology organisations to participate in building CoEs at a cost of around VNĐ200 billion (US$7.6 million), and incubated 162 start-up projects with funding of VNĐ15 billion ($568,250).

It will continue to prioritise policies that connect universities, research institutions and enterprises, ensuring that scientific achievements can be rapidly applied to production and business.

With a clear strategy the city aims to maintain its position as Việt Nam’s leading innovation centre and a driving force for the Southern Key Economic Region. — VNS