Within the framework of the Da Nang Startup and Innovation Festival (SURF) 2023, the scientific conferences entitled ‘Building Da Nang into an Innovation City’ and ‘International integration of the local innovation startup ecosystem in the context of globalisation’ took place at the Duy Tan University on Friday.

During the events, management agencies, experts and startups proposed their ideas and solutions to build Da Nang into an attractive destination for innovative startups.

Director of the Department of Market Development and Science and Technology Enterprises under Ministry of Science and Technology Pham Hong Quat (first, left) and Vice Chairman of the Da Nang People's Committee Tran Chi Cuong (2nd, right) visit booths at SURF 2023 Photo: M.Q - V.H

Strengths of startup elements promoted

Mr. Nguyen Van Chuong, the Vice President of the Da Nang Business Incubator (DNES), assessed that Da Nang has a developed innovation startup ecosystem, but is still limited in scale and quality.

Therefore, he stressed the need for the city to focus on building infrastructure to support innovative startups, developing high-quality human resources, and promoting cooperation between elements in the innovation startup ecosystem.

In addition, the city needs to strengthen the capacity of start-up support organisations, improve resources, enhance experience and skills for their staff, and expand a network of partners.

Having carried out support activities for Da Nang startups since 2019, Mr. Aaron Everhart, General Director of the Draper Startup House Viet Nam, founder of HATCH!, highly lauded the city government for its great efforts in providing maximum support for startup projects, especially many recently-established startup support centers, showing the city’s great interest in the field of innovative startups.

Mr. Aaron Everhart underlined a must-do for Da Nang to learn more about the city's startup support policies or visit incubators for appropriate directions.

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Song, the Deputy Director of the Academy of Science Technology and Innovation under the Ministry of Science and Technology, remarked Da Nang has ranked second on the Provincial Innovation Index (PII). The set of PII, which has just been piloted in 20 provinces/cities, is expected to be a tool to measure innovation results. The positive result has shown Da Nang's potential and space for the development of innovative startups.

He proposed that Da Nang needs the cooperation of the political system, from leaders to people, as well as to develop human resources and facilities for businesses and startup projects, in a bid to seek measures and solutions to promote the city’s socio-economic development.

Building a reliable destination for startups

In his speech delivered at the conferences, Director of the Department of Market Development and Science and Technology Enterprises under Ministry of Science and Technology Pham Hong Quat informed that in the context of international integration, Da Nang's innovation ecosystem made an important contribution to maintaining Viet Nam's innovation ecosystem in ASEAN as well as in the global arena.

Da Nang is a convergence place for such high technology content as biotechnology, healthcare, training, finance, biotech and fintech in which investors around the world are showing their keen interest.

Moreover, Da Nang is a leading locality in digital transformation - a favourable factor as a brand for the city's startups. Da Nang will be a pioneer place for startups to bring new technology models for testing and development. To promote existing advantages, the city needs to focus on developing human resources possibly by attracting talents from other localities.

At the same time, it is necessary for investors to feel safe and sustainable to replicate and expand the market for products of the city's startup community, he added.

He emphasised that intellectual property intelligence, talented human resources model and experimental space are three important factors to promote the development of Da Nang's ecosystem, thereby contributing to the formation of a worth-living city for innovative and start-up activities.

Mr. Le Duc Vien, the Director of the municipal Department of Science and Technology affirmed that Da Nang is converging many advantages to become a nucleus and hub for innovative startups. Becoming an innovative city will help Da Nang strengthen its position and reputation internationally.

Reporting by M.QUE, V.HOANG - Translating by M.DUNG