The event seeks innovation and digital transformation solutions to enhance the capacity of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
It focuses on improving SMEs’ governance capacity, strengthening their ties with foreign invested and major companies, supporting Vietnamese SMEs to grow strongly to proactively join and move to higher positions in global supply chains, and reinforcing connectivity and the effectiveness of policy dialogue between the Government and businesses.
Speaking at the launch in Hanoi, Vu Quoc Huy, Director of the Vietnam National Innovation Centre (NIC) under the Minitry of Planning and Investment (MPI), said the annual programme is part of the MPI’s InnovateVN initiative, in which NIC works with domestic and foreign tech firms and partners to promote innovation-based economic growth with new business models, products, and processes.
This initiative aims to assist the development of 500 pioneering innovation businesses by 2030 and help improve the public sector’s innovation capacity. It also plays the core role in nurturing a comprehensive innovation ecosystem in Vietnam and developing the country into an attractive destination for global technology and innovation investors, he added.
In his remarks, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung called for cooperation among the public sector, the private sector, and domestic and foreign socio-economic elements to invent, test, and carry out innovation initiatives for a prosperous Vietnam.
Rafael Frankel, director of public policy for South Asia and Southeast Asia at the Meta group, said his company hopes the solutions sought in this programme will strongly fuel digital transformation and promote the competitiveness of over 800,000 SMEs in Vietnam.
According to the MPI, the 2022 programme invites solutions and initiatives from organisations and individuals around the world. The best 15 entries will be honoured at a ceremony slated for April 2023.
Apart from prizes totaling 300,000 USD, winning solutions will be implemented in Vietnamese localities. Their inventors will receive assistance from NIC, Meta and other partners, including Goldsun Media, Up Co-working Space, Amazon Web Services, Google and Viettel, to improve capacity, research and develop products, and advertise solutions.
