Hanoi works to support innovative startups

Hanoi (VNA) – The administration of Hanoi has issued a number of breakthrough mechanisms and policies to support the development of startups.

According to the municipal People’s Committee, amid the rapid development of technology, especially the Fourth Industrial Revolution, countries around the world have been investing strongly in innovation application and innovative entrepreneurship to develop manufacturing foundation.

The Vietnamese Government views innovative entrepreneurship as one of the national-level goals to provide encouragement and support to turn ideas into innovative startups.

Unlike normal startups, innovative startups are capable of growing fast in terms of clientele, revenue, and profit thanks to the capitalisation of intellectual property, technology, and new business models. If they can manage to surmount difficulties and challenges, they can contribute considerably to socio-economic development.

Given this, creating an optimal environment for innovative startups is one of the focal tasks of Hanoi authorities at present, the Cong Thuong (Industry & Trade) newspaper reported.

The capital city is currently home to about 268,000 businesses, ranking second nationwide. It has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of enterprises over the past years, but innovative firms make up just a modest proportion, about 0.1 percent.

Notably, a survey of some business incubators and associations shows that most of startups there are small- and medium-sized enterprises operating on digital platforms. This type of businesses is considered a stepping stone for the formation of innovative startups. Therefore, these companies need assistance in terms of both corporate governance skills and technical infrastructure so as to grow fast, increase the success rate, and contribute more to the economy.

Learning of startups’ development demand and difficulties, Hanoi has issued breakthrough solutions to support them, including improving the economic policy, setting up an investment support fund, attracting foreign investors, offering tax incentives, and optimising business procedures.

Of note, the city approved a project on supporting innovative startups for the 2019 - 2025 period.

This project aims to complete and developing the innovative startup ecosystem in Hanoi; create a favourable environment for facilitating the types of enterprises able to grow fast basing on intellectual property, technology, and new business models; and perfect mechanisms and policies to boost innovative entrepreneurship, thereby contributing to fast and sustainable economic growth of the capital city.

Among its detailed objectives, the project will work to connect elements of the startup ecosystem to develop a network of innovative startup support; increase communications to encourage innovative entrepreneurship in each resident, young people, and intellectual; and form a centre for innovation and entrepreneurship in Hanoi to connect domestic and international resources for bolstering startups.

In particular, the project will assist the establishment of two - three more business incubators to support innovative entrepreneurship, encourage the formation of three - five private support funds for innovative startups, and attract foreign investment in innovative startups in the capital.

Hanoi expects that by 2025, 500 innovative startup projects will have been helped to develop and 150 innovative startups assisted to commercialise their products. Among them, at least 20 percent will succeed in raising capital from venture funds, while mergers and acquisitions worth about 500 billion VND (21.9 million USD) will be conducted.

Experts held that Hanoi holds numerous factors to become an innovative startup centre of Vietnam as it boasts high-quality human resources thanks to a large network of leading universities, colleges, vocational schools.

However, to become a true innovative startup centre, it still needs to make strong and strategic investment to tap into its strengths, they said, adding that the implementation of the innovative startup support project is an urgent need, matches the current entrepreneurship demand, and also helps turn Hanoi into an innovative startup centre of the whole country./.