Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Asia’s first Applied AI Centre of Excellence (AI COE) is expected to be established in Ho Chi Minh City.
The information was unveiled by the Startup and Innovation Hub of Ho Chi Minh City (SIHUB), the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), and Plug and Play at the Plug and Play Silicon Valley November Summit 2026, held in the US from November 3 to 5.
The initiative follows a memorandum of understanding signed in Ho Chi Minh City on September 30 by the three parties, aimed at establishing a regular channel linking the city’s innovation and startup ecosystem with Silicon Valley.
The cooperation focuses on connecting research and businesses’ demand for AI applications with startup acceleration programmes, international markets and investment capital, thus facilitating the transformation of technology into practical products, services and business opportunities.
Introducing the AI COE in Silicon Valley is expected to provide an opportunity to bring Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam’s innovation story directly to the international technology, startup, corporate and investment communities, while opening up greater opportunities to attract partners, resources and technology solutions for the city’s innovation ecosystem.
The initiative is not just about establishing a new research hub, but enhancing the capacity to apply AI solutions to production, business and urban management. It looks to connect businesses’ practical challenges with research and training capabilities, as well as networks of international experts and investors, thereby supporting the testing and refinement of solutions, technology commercialisation, and the development of enterprises with the potential to scale up.
Under the announced cooperation framework, SIHUB will serve as the focal point connecting Ho Chi Minh City’s innovation and startup ecosystem, UEH will contribute its strengths in research, interdisciplinary training and human resources development, while Plug and Play will provide connections with businesses, startup acceleration programmes and its global network of partners and investment funds.
The collaboration is hoped to create a chain of linkages spanning needs identification, research and testing, application, fundraising and market access.
The parties will continue to refine the centre’s specific operational mechanisms during the implementation process.
Plug and Play leaders have invited delegates, venture capital funds and international technology companies to Ho Chi Minh City in March 2027 to promote practical action plans. The event is expected to mark the next step in turning connections established in Silicon Valley into concrete cooperation activities, technology projects and investment opportunities in Vietnam.
On the occasion, UEH officially joined Plug and Play’s global university partner network.
Established in Silicon Valley in 2006, Plug and Play is a global innovation platform operating in startup acceleration, corporate innovation consulting and venture capital investment. It has connected tens of thousands of startups with more than 550 corporate partners, as well as government agencies and universities.
Ho Chi Minh City’s cooperation with Plug and Play reflects its orientation towards moving beyond the expansion of innovation networks to strengthening technology application and commercialisation, while fostering enterprises capable of competing internationally./.
VNA
