HA NOI (Biz Hub)— The importance of innovation and entrepreneurship in building small- and medium-sized enterprises was highlighted during a workshop held late last week in Ha Noi.

The event was jointly organised by the University of Hawaii's Vietnam MBA programme and the US Embassy-backed SME Networking and Mentoring project.

"Small businesses are responsible for the majority of jobs creation," said independent management consultant Declan Gordon Carroll.

Innovating companies and new start-ups were the life blood of growing and dynamic economies at a time when globalisation, shorter product life cycles and increasing cost competition were creating both opportunities and challenges, said Carroll.

"Only through innovation can these challenges be overcome and new opportunities exploited," he said.

There were only 500 live patents in Viet Nam and only 5 per cent of researchers are in the private sector.—VNS