Innovation Must Become a Substantive Driving Force

Speaking at the event, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that Techfest Vietnam is an important event, a place to sow the seeds of ideas, gather intelligence, and spread benefits to the innovative startup community. This is the 11th year the program has been organized and the fifth time he has directly attended, thereby demonstrating the deep concern of the Party, the Government, and the business community. The overarching message conveyed is that the people and businesses play the main role, while the State plays the role of facilitator, partner, and promoter.

According to the Prime Minister, innovation should not just be a slogan but must stem from the heart, becoming a substantive driving force for development. History has proven that human creativity has no limits, contributing to increased labor productivity, not only changing the way we live and work, but also becoming a key driver of growth, not merely an aspiration.

Emphasizing the role of people in the journey to conquer new heights, the Prime Minister affirmed that, under the leadership of the Party, Vietnam has written a miraculous story, turning "the impossible into the possible," and steadily and sustainably developing step by step.

Practical experience shows that innovation in agriculture has helped Vietnam escape poverty, ensuring national food security while becoming one of the world's leading rice exporters. Along with this, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, and green transformation are important pillars helping the country achieve sustainable development.

Despite numerous fluctuations, the Vietnamese economy has maintained its growth momentum in most sectors, demonstrating strong resilience to external impacts. Growth rates are among the highest in the world, and macroeconomic indicators, including GDP, have shown many positive results. These achievements are due to many factors, most notably the correct leadership of the Party, unwavering strategic commitment, and timely, appropriate, and effective innovation. Traditional drivers such as investment, consumption, and exports continue to be effectively utilized, becoming key to unlocking the development opportunities for businesses.

The Prime Minister stated that investment continues to be identified as a top priority and a crucial driving force for rapid and sustainable economic development, especially in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Over the years, the Party and State have issued numerous resolutions in various fields, identifying science and technology, innovation, and digital technology as top priorities, while continuously renewing traditional growth drivers and effectively exploiting new growth drivers such as the green economy, digital economy, and creative economy.

The Prime Minister affirmed that innovative entrepreneurship is an inevitable and objective trend in the process of comprehensive economic development and effective integration. Currently, Vietnam's digital infrastructure is developing strongly, with widespread 3G and 4G coverage and the gradual deployment of 5G.

National programs of international stature such as Techfest are increasingly asserting their prestige, attracting the participation of a large number of experts, scientists, research institutes, universities, businesses, startups, and domestic and international organizations, creating an open, attractive, and rich platform for cooperation.

The Young Generation – A New Driving Force for Innovative Entrepreneurship in Vietnam

The Prime Minister emphasized that businesses need to strengthen human resource training from secondary to postgraduate levels, while developing open laboratories and enhancing close cooperation between the State, universities, scientists, and investors to quickly bring research results into practical application. They need to proactively invest in new models, gradually forming unique ecosystems in technology and strategic fields, actively participating in investment, mastering, and developing technology. The young generation is expected to continue to promote the spirit of daring to think, daring to act, and daring to take risks, thereby spreading the spirit of innovation throughout society.

Techfest Vietnam is expected to be elevated to regional and international levels from 2026, becoming a hub for expert resources, promoting negotiations, cooperation, and investment, aiming to build Vietnam into a technologically advanced nation, while also creating opportunities for Vietnamese startups to participate in testing and market expansion globally.

This is also an opportunity to look back at the positive changes in the innovation and startup ecosystem, from its initial stages to shaping subsequent development strategies, thereby creating new momentum for development and international integration.

The younger generation is expected to continue nurturing aspirations, boldly experimenting, and venturing to solve major problems of the nation, people, and era, while creating pioneering "Made in Vietnam" technologies, becoming a new growth engine, contributing to the country's rapid and sustainable development.

Innovation is the inevitable path for Vietnam's breakthrough.

According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, although Vietnam's innovation and startup ecosystem has achieved encouraging initial results, its slow starting point and the gap with the region and the world still remain, not commensurate with the intellectual potential and capabilities of the Vietnamese people.

According to the Prime Minister, Vietnam needs satisfactory solutions to many major problems, including promoting effective linkages between domestic and FDI enterprises, thereby helping Vietnamese businesses participate more deeply in the global value chain, so that Vietnamese products can assert their value and reach further in regional and international markets.

Another key task is to accelerate the commercialization of scientific research results from Vietnamese scientists and universities, participating in new technological development trends such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence. In the context of a global value chain being shaped by the participation of many major powers and large corporations, where will Vietnam stand in the global semiconductor value chain? What are the key objectives? Should the strategic priority be developing core technologies, providing specialized training, or expanding the ecosystem?

The Prime Minister emphasized that these are major questions requiring managers, scientists, and universities to think together and choose a direction that suits Vietnam's conditions and advantages. At the same time, it is necessary to quickly establish large national databases, develop the data market, and promote artificial intelligence and machine learning products mastered by Vietnam.