Entrepreneurship and innovation are the driving force and resource for development.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the opening ceremony of the 5th National Startup Day for students.

On the morning of March 25, in Hue City, Thua Thien-Hue Province, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the opening ceremony of the 5th National Startup Festival for Students in 2023, jointly organized by the Ministry of Education and Training, the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the People's Committee of Thua Thien-Hue Province.

Also attending were Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son; Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung; Secretary of Thua Thien-Hue Provincial Party Committee Le Truong Luu; leaders of ministries, branches, provinces, cities and a large number of students from universities, colleges, vocational schools, high schools and secondary schools nationwide.

Promoting youth entrepreneurial aspirations

The National Student Startup Day (SV_STARTUP) is an annual activity organized by the Ministry of Education and Training to implement the project "Supporting students to start a business by 2025" according to Decision No. 1665/QD-TTg dated October 30, 2017 of the Prime Minister.

The 5th National Student Startup Festival in 2023 was held in Hue City on March 25 and 26 with many activities such as displaying and exhibiting startup projects; a forum connecting innovative startup networks; a workshop to assess the current situation and solutions for implementing startup support activities in high schools; the final round of the 5th "Students with Startup Ideas" Contest...

The highlight of the 5th National Student Startup Day is the “Students with Startup Ideas” contest held nationwide with a total prize value of 710 million VND.

The Organizing Committee received 508 projects in 5 fields: industry, product manufacturing; agriculture, forestry, fishery; education, tourism, services, finance; health, healthcare, beauty technology; business creating social impact. From 508 projects, the Organizing Committee selected 80 best projects for the voting round and the final round of the competition.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his joy at witnessing the young faces, full of enthusiasm and aspirations of students; believing that aspirations will be the driving force and ambition to urge students to move forward, conquer their dreams, and aim for good things for themselves and society, and be a light on the path of starting a business, establishing a career, and establishing a career despite many obstacles.

According to the Prime Minister, startups and innovation are an important driving force and resource in the development of each country, especially in the era of globalization, international integration and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In recent years, the Party and the State have paid special attention to, issued and effectively implemented many policies and guidelines to support and encourage startups and innovation. The startup movement has spread widely from cities to rural areas and to remote, border, island and ethnic minority areas. The entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to start a business have begun to flourish in most classes and generations of people, especially among the youth.

In particular, the National Startup Festival for students, held annually, has truly become an intellectual playground, a place to form ideas and valuable scientific research to promote the entrepreneurial aspirations of young people. At the same time, it creates a favorable environment to support students in forming and realizing startup ideas and projects.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that in nearly 5 years of implementation, the Project “Supporting Students to Start-Up by 2025” (Project 1665) has attracted nearly 2,600 student start-up projects and over 4,000 ideas and start-up projects in the field of vocational education. Among them, many projects have won awards and been commercialized such as the “TX Green Nano” mouthwash project to prevent oral diseases in schools, the automatic body temperature measuring and sterilization machine project, etc.

To date, there are over 60 venture capital funds; more than 3,000 successful startups; along with that, nearly 100 universities have made startups a subject; many training institutions have funds to support student startups; there are 98 startup incubators in schools.

The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union at all levels has organized more than 3,000 creative idea competitions, attracting nearly 370,000 young people to participate with nearly 14,000 startup ideas; supporting nearly 16,000 projects with a total budget of nearly 700 billion VND. Notably, the Final Round of the "Students with Startup Ideas" Contest and the National Startup Festival for Students this year had 80 excellent projects selected.

The Prime Minister assessed that besides the achieved results, Vietnam's startup ecosystem is not commensurate with its potential, and still has a gap compared to some countries in the region and the world. Startups and innovation for young people still face many difficulties and barriers. Many young people have good ideas but cannot turn them into reality; many products have not been commercialized.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the opening ceremony of the 5th National Startup Day for students.

The Head of Government emphasized that the 13th Party Congress determined: "Promoting national digital transformation, developing the digital economy on the basis of science and technology, innovation;... improving productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy."

Project 1665 sets out the goal: “Promoting the entrepreneurial spirit of students and equipping them with knowledge and skills on entrepreneurship... Creating a favorable environment to support students in forming and realizing ideas and startup projects...."

According to the Prime Minister, to achieve these goals and make a breakthrough in start-up activities, truly becoming a widespread movement in all fields and in all localities, it is necessary to have the drastic participation of the entire political system; the consensus and support of the people and businesses, but most importantly, the determination and aspiration of Vietnamese youth.

Five factors that promote startups and innovation

On that basis, the Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities to continue creating a favorable environment, conditions and legal basis for young people to start businesses. Accordingly, review, amend and supplement appropriate mechanisms and policies, create favorable conditions for start-ups, especially mechanisms to encourage and protect young people in start-ups, innovation and support mechanisms in terms of capital, infrastructure, human resources, taxes, fees, charges...; have mechanisms to form and develop the spirit of start-ups and innovation right from high school level; link start-ups in universities and vocational schools with solving practical problems.

The Prime Minister requested to promote the development of Youth Startup Incubation and Support Centers; connect Student Startup Support Centers with Startup Centers in localities; form a national startup ecosystem; connect the national startup ecosystem with a network of experts, creative startup consultants, investors, domestic and international investment funds, with the motto "harmonized benefits, shared risks;" have specific programs and plans, worthy investments for startups; have a mechanism for ordering and assigning tasks to educational and training institutions to promote local socio-economic development in a green and sustainable direction; amend, supplement, and perfect regulations on startup investment funds, innovation in the direction of facilitating and simplifying administrative procedures.

“To promote startups and innovation, there must be five elements: a clear legal corridor; support in terms of facilities and capital; a favorable environment; clear orientation, focus, and key points, with industries and fields of strength and high value; commercialization to bring the highest efficiency to startup, innovation, and creativity products,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

The Prime Minister also requested ministries, branches and localities to support the implementation of startups, innovation and promote the commercialization of youth products. In particular, effectively implement the Project to support the national startup ecosystem, the Program "Supporting youth startups" and the Project "Supporting students and university students to start businesses." Along with that, encourage and protect those who dare to start businesses and innovate; advise, support and protect young people who dare to think, dare to do, dare to start businesses and dare to innovate against legal risks and investment efficiency...

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and delegates attend the opening ceremony of the 5th National Startup Day for students.

For universities and vocational training institutions, the Prime Minister requested to strongly promote the development of the startup ecosystem in the education and training sector. “Schools are the foundation; teachers are the driving force; students are the center and subject of startups and innovation,” the Prime Minister pointed out.

The Head of Government suggested focusing on discovering, encouraging, nurturing, and developing creative and entrepreneurial ideas to practically serve the individual, the community, and society; strengthening connections with businesses, organizations, and individuals, promoting the startup and innovation movement in schools; promoting commercialization and protection of scientific research products; and mobilizing social resources for research, startup, and innovation activities.

The Prime Minister requested the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union to continue to motivate, inspire, and spread the desire for start-ups and innovation among young people, with the spirit of creating movements, playgrounds, and environments, honoring and contributing to "supporting" and nurturing start-up and innovation ideas of young people, especially students.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the Party and State always encourage all startup and innovation ideas to solve the bottlenecks and bottlenecks that reality poses, especially in areas that are trends of the times such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things, green economy, digital economy, circular economy, nanotechnology, space technology, etc. to quickly approach and catch up with advanced countries in the world.

“The history of the Vietnamese people has gone through many periods, overcoming many difficulties and challenges; not inferior to any country in building and protecting the Fatherland. Now we need to prove to the world that we are not inferior to any country in starting a business, innovating and creating,” the Prime Minister wished.

The Prime Minister believes that with the thousand-year-old tradition of our nation; with the virtue, intelligence and strength of the Vietnamese people; with a young generation full of enthusiasm, dynamism, creativity and many dreams; the passions, ambitions and aspirations of the youth will continue to be nurtured, take flight and become reality, contributing to building an increasingly powerful and prosperous Vietnam; and the Vietnamese people will become increasingly prosperous and happy.

After attending and speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the Festival, the Prime Minister and the delegation visited the booths displaying and exhibiting start-up projects and products of students.

According to VNA