On the morning of November 28, the ceremony of announcing the results of the selection of innovative startup projects ended with 108 best projects, affirming an important pillar in the new growth model of Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City, along with the digital economy and green economy.

Ms. Le Thi Be Ba – Deputy Director of the Center for Innovative Startups in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City – program summary report – Photo: TRUONG LINH

The projects that bring the selection of innovative startup projects of SIHUB this year focus on key areas of the economy such as Fintech, AI – Semiconductor – Digital Transformation (Innovation Quest), Sustainable Development (GIC), Cultural Industry (InnoCulture), Gov.Star (health and public sector transportation) and Ednovation.

Businesses are the center, technology products are the measure of efficiency

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Mr. Tran Trong Tuyen – Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City – emphasized that innovation is becoming an important pillar in the city’s new growth model, in addition to the digital economy and green economy.

HCMC Ho Chi Minh City aims that by 2030, the digital economy will account for 30-40% of GRDP and social investment in research and development will reach 2-3% of GRDP, with at least 4-5% of the annual budget for science, technology and digital transformation.

“The Department of Science and Technology is committed to accompanying projects in the spirit of taking businesses as the center, taking technology products as a measure of effectiveness,” Mr. Tuyen emphasized.

2025 is considered a pivotal year, when Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City has put all its efforts into concretizing the “1-4-1” breakthrough strategy, which builds an international financial center, develops four pillars including multi-purpose high technology, high-quality health and education, high-tech industry, and a synchronous infrastructure system.

In this context, this year’s innovation project selection programs are considered an important link to mobilize businesses, start-ups and experts to participate in the transformation process. This marks a new step of the city’s innovation ecosystem in the journey of realizing Resolution 57-NQ/TW and the goal of becoming an international innovation center in the period of 2025 – 2030.

Education leads, green growth becomes a prominent trend in startups

In the summary report, Ms. Le Thi Be Ba – Deputy Director of the Center for Innovative Startups of Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City – said that the attraction of this year’s program is reflected in the number of 462 registered projects.

After the pre-qualification round, 287 projects were selected to train with experts. The final 108 best projects were selected and certified, divided into three stages: Pre-Incubation with 39 projects, Incubation with 64 projects, and Accelerated with 5 certified projects.

The projects certified at the closing ceremony are committed to continuing support, including access to investment funds, legal advice, product testing in a real environment and market expansion.
Among them, educational technology (Ednovation) continues to be the leading sector with 116 registered projects. This partly reflects the trend of strong investment in educational technology and new learning models. The Sustainable Development sector recorded 92 projects, showing that green growth is becoming the mainstream trend of Vietnamese start-ups.

New fields such as Fintech, AI and Semiconductor – which are considered the “technology heart” of the next generation of start-ups – also recorded dozens of high-quality projects. With Fintech, many solutions focus on digital payments, personal financial management, fraud prevention and technology for the new generation of banks.

In the AI and Semiconductor group, projects show a more methodical level of investment, from AI platforms for businesses, operational optimization tools, to initial research directions in chips and sensors, which are identified by the Government as long-term strategies.

The dense appearance of young teams in these fields shows that Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City is becoming an attractive destination for deeptech projects, which require high expertise and a strong support ecosystem.

Soure: Tuoi Tre Online