To implement Decision No. 844/QD-TTg dated 18 May 2016 of the Prime Minister (Project 844), on 20 Sep 2017, Binh Duong Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 2513/QD-UBND to approve the implementation plan of project "To support the national innovation startup ecosystem until 2025" in the province in period 2017-2020, with the goal of supporting innovation start-up activities of universities and businesses. This project also aims to create a favorable environment for forming and developing a startup ecosystem, innovation activities in the province.
Eastern International University is one of the committed units to the innovation startup ecosystem. In photo: Students practice at a laboratory of the university.
Educational institutes make contributions
After the Prime Minister approved Project 844 and Decision No. 1665 of Provincial People's Committee on supporting students’ start-ups until 2025 and projects of the province, Thu Dau Mot University established Labor Market and Startup Center in Apr 2017, and organized professional training for key lecturers to provide skill training for students. Since 2017, the university has organized training courses on startups.
Truong Thi Thuy Tien, Director of Center for Labor Market and Startup of Thu Dau Mot University, said that in 2019 the university held contests on their campus. A remarkable result was the project of food formol rapid testing kit won third prize in the final round of students’ startup idea competition 2019. When entering big playgrounds, students realized that their abilities could develop more to express their ideas.
Pham Chi Trong, a fourth-year student, Faculty of Economics at Thu Dau Mot University, Head of Student Start-up Club - a member of this team, said: “In recent years, Thu Dau Mot University has created favorable conditions for students to participate in startups. At this contest, my team was instructed by professors to complete our project of formol rapid test kit for food. Therefore, we had a long time to prepare well before entering the exam”.
Thu Dau Mot University’s students win third prize in the final round of students’ startup idea competition 2019 conduct a research at laboratory.
With the goal of building an innovative startup ecosystem in the province, Becamex IDC together with Eastern International University (EIU) established Becamex Business Incubator (BBI). This is a place to support EIU's students, lecturers, communities, and SMEs in the province and surrounding localities to take first steps in fulfilling their dream of starting a business.
Currently, BBI has 8 active start-ups, including 3 foreign-invested companies (Singapore). These companies are mainly in fields of software development, information technology, robots ... BBI companies have also cooperated with EIU to recruit many EIU students.
Dr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Principal of EIU, said: “We have put into operation Business Incubator sponsored by Becamex IDC right on our campus. In particular, BBI provides startup knowledge, creates an environment to stimulate creativity and innovation. Currently, a number of businesses have been established at BBI, including students' businesses cooperating with American lecturers and businesses. EIU hopes to provide both human resource and a startup environment, creating a favorable land that attracts talented people to contribute practically to the Triple Helix model for smart city construction”.
To support startups through mechanisms and policies
The plan for developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the province was issued within Decision No. 2513/QD-UBND with many specific goals for periods 2017-2018 and 2019-2020. Each phase has appropriate action plans. However, up to now, there has been no specific document on policies (including content, support level) for activities supporting startups and innovation.
To solve this problem, Provincial People's Committee recently submitted a report to Provincial People's Council to propose the formulation of a decree regulating policies to support innovation startups in the province until 2025. According to the assessment of governmental agencies, this is a necessary action to timely realize the contents delivered by the superior documents and ensure that they would be suitable for the actual situation of the province in order to encourage startups to further develop and be efficient.
According to the plan, in the coming time, the province will gradually improve mechanisms and legal corridor to support innovation startups activities and enhance the capacity of participants in startup activities. Furthermore, the province will develop material and technical facilities for start-up innovation activities and bring training contents of innovative and entrepreneurial methods to universities, colleges, high schools in the province.
The goal is to complete and put into operation the Center of Community Initiatives and Start-up Support by 2020; developing 3 laboratories / experiments, 3 technology incubators, and supporting about 30 innovative startup projects.
Reported by Phuong Le – Translated by Ngoc Huynh
