Inaugurating the CMC Innovation Centre in Hanoi, he called for such centres tobe established in many localities, especially in big universities.
The country has very few innovation centres, while other countries havehundreds, he said, adding “If we increase the number of innovation centres, wewill have more start-ups.”
The deputy PM said he expected the number of both local and foreign venturefunds in the country to increase.
He acknowledged that while many Vietnamese youth have tasted success withunique start-up ideas, the Government, enterprises and investment funds shouldcontribute more to building a start-up ecosystem.
The support can include businesses registration, intellectual property rightsand preferential taxes, he said.
Stressing the importance of an ecosystem, he said: “Each group and business hasits own strengths. But they will have new opportunities if they connect andshare with each other,” he said.
The success of Nguyen Ha Dong with his famous “Flappy Bird” game and othersimilar stories should be shared to encourage and support others, Đam said.
The Deputy PM also spoke of the need for policies to encourage investment in ITinfrastructure and facilitate ICT application in some key economic sectors.
Improving the nation’s business environment and competitiveness are factorsthat will affect the development of both big firms and start-ups, he said.
Nguyen Trung Chinh, CMC Group chairman and general director, said there was noway for businesses to develop other than by promoting innovation.
He said the new centre will play an importantrole in facilitating the establishment of innovative firms. The CMC InnovationFund as well as other venture funds will invest in good ideas, aid intechnology transfer and provide commercial funding for feasible projects, hesaid.
The 50 billion VND (2.2 million USD) centre will prioritise projects relatingto the Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud, security, Big Data, artificialintelligence (AI) and Robotics, he added.
Covering an area of 600sq.m, the centre is expected to be a location forsharing and exchanging technologies, new trends, a technology incubator and asupporter of innovative projects of the CMC Group and the start-up community.
The inauguration was also marked by the signing of agreement between CMC Groupand the Department of Technology Application under the Ministry of Science andTechnology (MoST) to build a technology map and co-operate in other relevantactivities.-VNA