Hanoi promotes developing innovation ecosystem

Hanoi needs a concrete strategy to promote innovation in the capital city, said an official from the Ministry of Investment and Planning (MIP) at the workshop “Specific mechanisms to support local startups for innovation: World experiences and lessons for Hanoi” held this week.

Nguyen Tien Thinh, Deputy Director of the MIP's National Innovation Center, said an agency specializing in studying and building up the strategy would be set up to turn the capital city's ambitious innovation plans into reality.

Thinh added that it is necessary to enhance the connection of existing infrastructures for innovation dispersed in ministries, branches, corporations, and universities to support startups and innovation in Hanoi as the city has chosen a shared model to foster its startup ecosystem.

At the event, experts and managers put forth the needs and difficulties facing local businesses so as to devise the most optimal strategies, contributing to building a comprehensive ecosystem of startups.

Ngo Minh Toan, Director of the Hanoi Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) Support Center, said innovative startups based on the exploitation of intellectual property, technology, and new business models can create breakthroughs that help solve existing problems, forming large enterprises and attracting high-quality human resources.

Since 2016, startups have been institutionalized. Specially, the Law on Support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises came into force on January 1, 2018 with many specific regulations on investment and support for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, such as helping them in the application and transfer of technology, giving them support to access advanced equipment and join incubators, co-working areas, training, in-depth training on product development as well as attracting investment.

In 2017, the Hanoi People’s Committee collaborated with Israeli experts to create the Hanoi Innovative Startup Portal and put it into operation in October of that year. There are currently about 800 startups and a number of organizations, individuals and investors participating in the portal.

On September 9, 2019, the Hanoi People's Committee issued a decision approving the project “Supporting innovative startups in Hanoi for the 2019-2025 period” affirming the city’s disposition to create a favorable environment to support creative businesses.

In particular, the Hanoi SME Support Center is the focal point, assigned by the city to research, develop and implement policies related to supporting startups and innovative businesses.