Director of the DIC Phan Lan Tu said at a briefing held recently to review the performance of the department in the first six months, aiming to develop Hanoi as a start-up city. She said that the Government had talked a lot about Vietnam becoming a start-up country and Hanoi was eager to become a start-up city.
A view of Hanoi Capital
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The project has set the following targets for 2020: complete the main legal framework for a start-up ecosystem; run an online portal for the National Innovative Start-up Ecosystem; support about 800 start-up projects and 200 start-up enterprises, of which 50 will raise follow-on investment from private venture investors or will undergo mergers and acquisitions worth about 1 trillion VND (about 50 million USD). By 2025, the project is expected to have supported 2,000 start-up projects and 600 start-up enterprises, of which 100 will have raised follow-on investment from private venture investors, or will have undergone mergers and acquisitions worth about 2 trillion VND.
State funding will only be provided to support start-ups in their earlier stages. Subsequently, support from private investors and organisations will play a vital role in ensuring the efficiency and sustainability of the start-up ecosystem in Vietnam. Tu said the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) would have a start-up scheme in ICT. Currently, DIC is building a start-up project in Hanoi. The department has also worked with relevant bodies in order to compile a report for the city administration about IT incubator schemes to enhance start-up activities for small- and medium-sized enterprises.
In the first six months, the department also finished preparing an information technology development programme for the 2016-20 period and a plan to build a software and digital content park. By the end of June this year, the capital city had issued investment licences to 98 foreign direct investment firms in the field of information and communications technology. Among them, 29 are new projects with a total investment capital of 1.55 billion USD.
In June alone, Hanoi’s total turnover from the export of electronics, PC accessories and peripherals reached 901 million USD. Regarding building the e-government, Hanoi ought to enhance IT application in administrative management to make it easier for enterprises and the people. The Government encourages Hanoi to pilot international initiatives and practices in restructuring State enterprises and managing public assets, thus increasing transparency and reducing wastefulness, he stated.
The city’s authorities asserted that they are committed to bettering the investment environment and focusing on administrative reform, towards attracting resources for Hanoi’s development and realising its targets of international integration. Specific measures will be rolled out to improve the quality and competitiveness of the economy, the city will also concentrate on building and upgrading infrastructure facilities, especially those for transport, water drainage and supply, electricity and telecommunications.
According to Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung, Hanoi is calling for investment in 43 projects in 2016, including 15 industrial and trade projects, and 11 for building social infrastructure.
Representatives from associations and enterprises operating in the city proposed measures to improve the business climate and draw investment to Hanoi, how best to use official development assistance (ODA) capital, and ways to assist the city’s enterprises to access capital sources and loans. They also gave recommendations to attract resources for developing high-tech health care and discussed the preservation of Hanoi’s cultural identity.
