More than 200 local and interntaional experts, investors, supporting agencies and leading organisations in the startup ecosystem took part in a discussion on sources of support for Vietnamese startups at an international seminar held on Friday (December 10) in HCM City.

The seminar, “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area: Promising Opportunities Untapped for Vietnamese Startups”, introduced Vietnamese startups to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA), connecting experts, startups, accelerators, incubators and Sunwah Innovations’ international partners.

Senior officials in the startup ecosystem in Viet Nam and many other countries and territories including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Cambodia joined the seminar both online and offline.

As the largest city in Viet Nam, HCM City’s innovation startup ecosystem is attracting more resources from society, said Nguyen Viet Dung, director of the HMC City Department of Science and Technology.

Around 2,000 start-ups are operating in the city, accounting for half of the country’s start-ups, with 65 per cent of them in the field of information technology, Dung said.

“At this international seminar, we look forward to receiving insights from experts on cooperation opportunities between Viet Nam and the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau in the fields of digital transformation, science and technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship,” he said.

Jesse Choi, director of Sunwah Vietnam and CEO of Sunwah Innovations, said the Greater Bay Area, consisting of nine vibrant cities in Guangdong Province and two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao, is a new market and on its way to become a giant technology and innovation hub in the world.

“This Greater Bay Area, however, is not yet on the radar of Viet Nam’s startup scene even though many Southeast Asian startups have been turning to Hong Kong as an important gateway to access this thriving ecosystem. We would like to introduce this exciting market to the Vietnamese startup community,” Choi said.

Participating experts agreed that guiding and supporting Vietnamese startups on their global journey is critical to national economic growth, particularly in the development of innovation in Viet Nam.

They pointed out challenges and suggested valuable solutions for Vietnamese startups when developing their businesses and expanding into new markets.

Meetups between Vietnamese startups, startup supporting organisations and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation helped them gain a better understanding of funding opportunities, preferential policies, legal procedures and other considerations when entering a new market.

As part of the framework of the annual national technology, innovation and startup festival TECHFEST and HCM City Week of Innovation, Startups & Entrepreneurship 2021 (TECHFEST - WHISE 2021), the seminar was organised by Sunwah Innovations in coordination with the city’s Department of Science and Technology.

TECHFEST - WHISE 2021 launched by the HCM City People’s Committee and the Ministry of Science and Technology featured more than 20 startup and innovation events organised both online and in person from December 8-15. — VNS