HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam expects each and every young Vietnamese to be ambitious and fearless to follow start-up dreams and bring prosperity to the country.

He made the appeal in front of hundreds of students yesterday at the Hà Nội-based National Economics University for the launch of the National Students’ Startup Day.

“The country has experienced countless disasters and destruction, Vietnamese people have fought two devastating wars, with unimaginable sacrifices and losses. That’s why, along with the dream of independence and people, Vietnamese also wish for flourishing prosperity,” Deputy PM Đam said, adding that despite great development leaps in recent times, Viet Nam remains a low middle-income country.

“We cannot expect outside countries to make riches for Việt Nam, each Vietnamese must do their best to contribute to the country’s growth,” he said, adding younger generations would be the driving force of this growth.

Aside from the youth’s efforts, it’s important for teachers and leaders of education institutions to support the students in science and research, he said, adding that the universities should be the “breeding ground” of new ideas, not an environment for propagating “old knowledge.”

Deputy PM stressed that universities are the main factor in the national start-up ecosystem.

At the event, Minister of Education and Training Phùng Xuân Nhạ said the ministry had instructed education institutions on how to organise activities to inspire start-up spirit amongst students, including training programmes and counselling sessions to help youths deal with the difficulties in a positive ways and help start-up founders overcome challenges.

After a year of implementing the Government-sponsored project to support students’ start-up efforts, Nhạ said the education sector has started to pay more attention to start-up education and support, evidenced from the participation of projects by younger students in this year’s contest.

The final round of the national students’ start-up competition for this year was also held yesterday as part of the event, with the 15 best projects chosen amongst 80 start-ups in various fields from health, education to fintech and agriculture. — VNS