In recent years, Da Nang has achieved positive and clear results from start-up movements. Most notably, the city received the Viet Nam Smart City Award 2020 in the category of the best cities for startups and innovation.

Da Nang needs to create a new ecosystem and an ideal working environment with maximum support for everyone to work together. IN THE PHOTO: A corner of the Da Nang Software Park No. 2 (phase 1) in Thuan Phuoc Ward, Hai Chau District. Photo: THU HA

The notable award, organised for the first time by the Viet Nam Association for Software and IT Services (VINASA), has recognised the city's huge efforts in developing its fledgling startup ecosystem. It cannot be denied that a generation of young entrepreneurs and new talented founders who are highly regarded at the national level have played a pivotal role in bringing this success to Da Nang.

Let's meet with three young start-uppers in Da Nang who dare to accept the risks to "reach the big sea".

Trinh Cong Quang, Director of the VR360 Company cum founder of vrFairs project which was honoured in the top 10 best entries in the Viet Solutions 2021:

Striving to become a leading provider of digital transformation solutions in the country

Mr. Trinh Cong Quang

Over recent years, Da Nang has issued many attractive support policies for startups through the organisation of many meaningful programmes. Most prominent amongst them is the Da Nang Business Incubator (DNES)-organised FinC incubation programme under the support of the municipal Department of Science and Technology.

The FinC incubation programme has assisted startup projects and businesses in all aspects. Specifically, helping startups connect with a network of experts and highly qualified personnel, and supporting the development process. Of which, his VR360 Company in general and the vrFairs project in particular have benefited from the programme a lot.

However, Quang proposed that, in order to attract more startups, the city should organise more programmes and contests for the young to realize their new ideas and unique projects, especially solutions to solve problems arising in the context of COVID-19.

In addition, the city can allocate a team of personnel and experts in many fields to closely follow startups during their development process so as to understand clearly their thoughts, aspirations as well as difficulties to be able to solve in a timely manner.

"In the near future, our company will focus on promoting technology development in parallel with expanding our consumer markets for vrFairs solution" added he.

The young start-upper proudly said, in the past time, VrFairs has achieved some certain successes, including being named among the top 10 finalists of Vietsolutions 2021, and being chosen by many units and businesses to organize big events such as the Da Nang Startup Conference and Exhibition 2021, the Viet Nam Economic Forum - VIEF 2021, the supply-demand connection conference 2021 between Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces and cities, and the Hoan My International Scientific and Technical Conference and Mayo Clinic 2021.

However, in order for the solution to be widespread and widely used, he and his teammates are focusing on improving technology, and promoting marketing activities.

Most specially, greater efforts are being made to launch a project called Bizverse which is considered to be a Metaverse world with fully Digital Twin for businesses in the near future. Bizverse will apply blockchain technology, and it is developed and inherited from developed platforms and technologies such as vrFairs, VR360, and 3D maps. With  Bizverse, "users” can live, work and participate in business and entertainment activities.

"We expect to become a leader in providing digital transformation solutions, aiming to drive the development of contactless economy not only in Da Nang but also in every other province and city in Viet Nam" noted Quang.

Bui Ngoc Vinh, the Director of ST United Company, who has worked in the field of software export for more than a decade and has actively been involved in incubation activities and building a startup ecosystem and a co-working space dedicated to IoT model in Da Nang:

Da Nang expects to be a test market for innovative startup products.

Mr. Bui Ngoc Vinh

In recent years, Da Nang has increasingly become a favourite destination for startup lovers from both home and abroad.

The main reason is thought to be that the costs of human resources and operation in the city are still lower than those in two big cities of Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi. Additionally, in the past two years, the municipal Department of Science and Technology has launched many support programmes for startups.

However, there is a fact that startups take a long time to prepare new procedures and access the city's support packages.

For example, some private units which are operating a startup ecosystem model or coworking space find it very difficult to access the city's support policies.

He, therefore, expressed his hope that, in the coming time, the city will issue more open policies for private entities to create a startup ecosystem, thereby gradually building the image of Da Nang as a beta testing market for innovative start-ups.

"After winning the second prize in the Viet Solution 2021 contest with DigiAds, our company is interested in cooperating with many promising projects by a number of advertising enterprises. In the coming time, DigiAds plans to access the tourism and hotel market in Da Nang with the goal of deploying 15,000 advertising screens in hotels, resorts and restaurants in Central Viet Nam" revealed Vinh.

He added "We keep the orientation of a technology company with the model of both cooperating with foreign partners in technology activities and incubating our own startup products for the Vietnamese and Asian markets. In addition, ST United will boost the expansion of the online startup ecosystem with the networks of Conext.asia and madeindanang.com as well as continue to build a ecosystem from IoT Space and Nomad Spa coworking spaces".

Tran Hanh Trang, CEO cum Founder of the Enouvo Group:

Advertising Da Nang to international friends worldwide

Mrs. Tran Hanh Trang

Trang  founded the Enouvo IT Solutions Technology Company in 2011. At that time, the city was facing a lack of IT human resource. However, she still determined to pursue this project, because she wanted to contribute to the growth of her hometown and wanted to create a workspace for talented young people from all over the country.

She said that she was really impressed with Da Nang's support policies for start-ups, especially IT enterprises, the city's healthy living environment, and the friendliness of local people. She, therefore, wanted to introduce Da Nang, and Viet Nam, as an ideal destination for startup activities to all friends from all over the world. To do this, it is necessary to create a new ecosystem, an ideal environment, and maximum support for everyone to work together.

Currently, Enouvo has more than 120 members. Aside from providing software development services to customers in the English-speaking market, and others, Enouvo is giving its top priority to developing its own digital transformation products such as Smartos and KuuHo.

In particular, the SMARTOS (Smarter Office Space) is an integrated platform to support the management and operation of the workspace. Since its official operation in 2019, SMARTOS has received positive feedbacks from customers. In early October 2021, the platform entered the final round of the "National Startup Women" contest and won the 'Prospect' award.

A corner of Da Nang

Meanwhile, KuuHo is a free application that Enouvo has coordinated with the Da Nang government to deploy since 2019. The application is directly integrated with the city's 1022 switchboard to help people send feedback and recommendations to the government in a timely and quickly manner, as well as call for support from the community in emergency situations.

In addition, the app also integrates many features to support people in times of natural disasters, storms, floods, and epidemics. In 2020, KuuHo was named among top 10 in the category of Narrowing the Digital Gap of the “Make in Vietnam” Digital Technology Products 2020 Award.

Reporting by HAI AU, NHAT HA – Translating by M.DUNG