Da Nang (VNA) – The 2026 Da Nang Innovation Startup Festival (SURF), the central coastal city’s biggest annual event of its kind, took place on August 18 and 19, attracting a large number of experts, investors, businesses, research institutes, universities and members of the domestic and international innovation startup community.
Themed “A New Era of Growth – Pioneering Innovation”, the festival focused on expanding international connectivity, promoting cross-border investment cooperation and highlighting strategic technology sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, digital technology, blockchain, green technology and digital transformation.
The event brought together more than 30 prominent speakers, experts and reputable investment funds from Vietnam and overseas, including Singapore, the Republic of Korea, the US, Japan and China. It also attracted a number of angel investors and major investment funds such as Quest Ventures, Genesia Ventures, Makara and Vertex Ventures, alongside more than 20 supporting organisations. Over 150 projects registered for the innovation startup competition, while more than 30 exhibitors showcased their products and technologies. The event also drew over 3,000 registrations.
The festival features the Da Nang Innovation and Startup Competition, an innovation startup and technology demonstration exhibition, and the launch of a Daegu City (Republic of Korea) Technology and Innovation Showcase Space in Da Nang. It also includes the presentation of an international StartupBlink certification, the signing of memoranda of understanding and announcements of investment partnerships in innovation startups.
A series of forums and seminars are also being held, providing a platform to connect ideas, technologies, capital and markets in Vietnam and overseas
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Minh spoke highly of the development of Da Nang’s innovation startup ecosystem, saying the city needs to shift decisively from broad-based expansion towards greater quality and substantive effectiveness.
The success of an ecosystem should not be measured merely by the number of events, startups or competitions, he said, but more importantly by the number of technologies commercialised, businesses that successfully scale up, products that win market acceptance and the ecosystem’s contribution to socio-economic growth.
To turn Da Nang into an influential innovation and startup hub for Vietnam and the wider region, the Ministry of Science and Technology urged the city to focus on six priorities: building an effective and substantive innovation ecosystem; placing businesses at its centre; accelerating the commercialisation of technology and innovation; developing sources of capital and markets for startups; cultivating human resources and an innovation-oriented culture; and turning Da Nang into an international connectivity hub for the regional and national innovation ecosystem.
Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Ho Quang Buu said the city has identified innovation as a core driver of development. It is persistently building a comprehensive, sustainable and deeply interconnected innovation ecosystem in which scientists develop and refine technologies, businesses commercialise them, investment funds provide resources and the authorities create an enabling environment where new ideas can be tested and developed.
In 2026, Da Nang issued 17 resolutions along with a range of special mechanisms and policies to promote semiconductor integrated circuits, AI, digital technology and controlled experimentation through regulatory sandboxes.
Thanks to coordinated investment, the local innovation startup ecosystem climbed 212 places to rank 554th globally and third nationally, according to the StartupBlink 2026 report./.
