With the goal of contributing to making Da Nang into regional innovation centre of Viet Nam, the municipal Youth Union and universities city-wide are beefing up activities to support student launch startups and scientific research.

Greenwich Innovation Centre creates an ideal environment for students to do scientific research and nurture entrepreneurial ideas. (Photo courtesy of the Centre)

In early May 2022, the private Duy Tan University cooperated with BK Holdings, which belongs to Ha Noi University of Science and Technology to launch BK Holdings - Duy Tan Innovation Centre (BKH - DTU), with the orientation towards becoming a key unit promoting linkages between universities, businesses, and the national government in the Central Viet Nam and Central Highlands regions in an effort to boost the progress of the innovation ecosystem here.

BKH - DTU operates on four main pillars, namely community development, capacity building in innovation, technology transfer and investment incubation.

Truong Tien Vu, Head of Science and Technology Department at the Duy Tan University, said that under the university's Science and Technology Development Strategy for the 2021 - 2025 period, with a vision towards 2030, focus is placed on promoting applied research in association with the market, towards technology transfer and the commercialisation of research products. This may be ‘along road ahead’, requiring investment in finance, human resource and connections. The debut of BKH - DTU is a meaningful step on this journey.

This year, BKH - DTU is focusing on implementing two programmes: nationally and internationally certified innovation startup coach (SIC ToT) to build human resources and Lab2Market to bring innovations to the market.

This is also an opportunity for the school to maintain and develop a network of alumni, attracting investment not only in finance but also in professional knowledge and social responsibility.

Before that, at the end of April 2022, Greenwich Viet Nam - a bachelor training unit of the UK-based University of Greenwich inaugurated the Greenwich Innovation Centre at the FPT Building located in An Hai Bac Ward, Son Tra District.

In his perspectives, Ph.D Nguyen Duy Nghiem, Director of Greenwich Viet Nam - Da Nang campus, affirmed that starting up a business, innovation and scientific research is not only an inevitable trend of the times but also an important experience for students.

Greenwich innovation centre pledges to create an environment for students to freely conduct scientific research and nurture entrepreneurial ideas.

It is expected to become a hub to support innovation and connect Greenwich students together globally and in Southeast Asia in particular.

Greenwich Viet Nam has inked cooperation agreements with partner businesses to support students in scientific research, practical training at enterprises and post-graduation recruitment.

“The cooperation with companies and enterprises in many industries and fields is an important content in the training activities launched by Greenwich Viet Nam in order to create a learning environment, thereby giving students the opportunity to interact with the real-world environment right during their undergraduate courses”, said Ph.D Nghiem.

After two years of being heavily influenced by COVID-19, since the beginning of the year, many activities have been taken place in the city in a bid to support students to start up and embark upon innovations.

In late April, Da Nang Youth Union cooperated with the Da Nang Business Incubator (DNES) to organise a high-intensity training course (bootcamp) entitled ‘Startup launching pad’ for Youth Union members who are local university and junior colleges students.

The training programme lasted for 3 days, introducing the participants to the must-need elements of an entrepreneur, grouping to generate ideas, practice the ideation process, the analysis of the market and trends and ways to come up with business ideas.

Meanwhile, the Student Union of the University of Da Nang, in collaboration with the Da Nang Department of Science and Technology, has kicked off the ‘Tech startup promotion among students’ contest, which is open to Youth Union members and students from universities, colleges, high and secondary schools in the city.

The contest runs from March to August 2022 on mission to select creative and feasible projects that apply advanced and modern technology, create good-quality products and services to meet actual needs in such aspects as education, healthcare, agriculture - forestry - fishery, tourism, finance, banking and businesses with powerful social impact initiatives.

This contests aims to enhance cooperation between businesses and schools, helping Youth Union members and students foster their ability to become a founder or highly-qualified human resource in startup businesses, and foster their proactivity and creative thinking.

Also, award-winning entries will be recommended by the contest’s organisers for startup incubators and businesses for their more development strides.

Reporting by PHONG LAN – Translating by A.THU