Resolution No. 43/NQ-TW dated January 24, 2019 adopted by the Politburo on building and developing Da Nang by 2030, with a vision to 2045, defining the goal of building Da Nang into one of the major socio-economic centres of Viet Nam, and Southeast Asia at large, as a hub for startups and innovation. With a vision to 2045, Da Nang will become a large, ecological and smart urban area, a centre for startups, innovation and a livable coastal city at the level of the Asian region".

Illustrative image. (Photo: DNO)

To achieve the above-mentioned goal, Da Nang has kicked off the project of developing high-tech industry, building Da Nang into a national centre for startup and innovation and science and technology (S&T) highly competitive urban area of international stature. Innovative entrepreneurship is identified as an important content in city’s key socio-economic development task.

The Da Nang Innovation Startup Support Centre has been established from the upgrade and restructuring of the Da Nang Centre for Science and Technology Information under the city's Department of Science and Technology.

The centre is viewed as the focal point and the heart of the city’s innovative startup ecosystem, performing the functions of consulting, supporting, connecting startup networks, and cooperating with educational institutions, science and technology, socio-political and socio-professional organisations to develop models of creative startup support services and training areas and participate in the startup connection network in Central Viet Nam and Central Highlands, both nationally and internationally.

For the time being, Da Nang houses an innovation and startup support centre, two startup centres belonging to universities, nine business incubators, four creative spaces, nine co-working spaces, four startup investment funds, and many startup clubs at universities and junior colleges and the large innovative startup business community.

Through the city's support programmes and incubation and acceleration activities taken by incubators, the city has developed 163 innovative startup projects that have commercialised products and established 61 innovative startup businesses, including businesses that have thrived, grown rapidly and raised millions of USD in capital.

Under the Prime Minister-approved project to support the national innovation startup ecosystem by 2025, Viet Nam is on track to build a system of innovation centres to support research and development, creative startups, and ensure successful operation of centres with unique, superior, and competitive mechanisms and policies compared to the region and internationally, develop a national creative startup support centres in the cities of Ha Noi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City and innovative startup centres in ministries and organiSations with high innovation and entrepreneurship potential.

In particular, Da Nang is a locality with great potential, especially high-quality human resources and an ecosystem, playing focal role in the development of creative startups of the whole South Central Coast and Central Highlands regions.

To do that, first of all, relevant agencies shall focus on effectively implementing mechanisms and policies to support innovative startups, develop intellectual property, support businesses to boost technological innovations, implement the Innovative City project, participating in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), support the establishment of incubators and creative spaces in the city.

Also, it is a must-do to perfect infrastructure for innovative startups at the Da Nang Innovation Startup Support Centre, the incubation area of the Da Nang Hi-tech Park and promulgate an operation mechanism for the innovation space of the Da Nang Software Park No. 2.

The formation of innovation spaces will be an important infrastructure that facilitates scientific and technological research activities and the development of an innovation system in a business-centered direction.

This is a place where programmes are deployed to support businesses in researching and applying technologies and improving productivity, quality and efficiency, hereby helping accelerating the competitiveness of the Da Nang economy and building Da Nang into a large, ecological, modern and smart urban area.

On the other hand, focus should be on coordinating with the Ministry of Science and Technology to soon establish the National Innovative Startup Support Centre in Da Nang in a bid to  to create motivation for the development of innovative startup activities in the city and the Central Viet Nam - Central Highlands region as a whole.

It is also a good idea to expand cooperation with innovative startup ecosystems in domestic and international localities with strongly developed innovative startup activities such as the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Switzerland. Sweden, Finland and Singapore, thereby exchanging experiences in developing startup ecosystems, attracting investment funds for startups and connecting Da Nang with potential partners related to the field of innovative startups as a way to support the city's innovative projects and startups.

Such plans as developing Da Nang's innovative startup ecosystem to promote innovation, attracting investment and encouraging startups to beef up innovations and participate in the national innovation startup ecosystem index are competitive advantages in the era of Industry 4.0. Science, technology and innovation are also very important factors in promoting socio-economic growth associated with transforming the growth model, from quantity to quality, creating innovative solutions, technologies and ideas, new products and services and enhancing  the competition of the local governments and businesses.

Reporting by LE DUC VIEN – Translating by A.THU