Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam needs to build up the National InnovationCentre to create a technological start-up ecosystem and upgrade the nationalinnovation system, said experts.

The centre plays an important role in bringing new technologies to businessesand individuals, Nguyen Dinh Cung, head of the Central Institute for EconomicManagement (CIEM), said at a workshop on establishing the National InnovationCentre (NIC) held by the CIEM in Hanoi on October 31.
 
Vietnam’s innovation centres can help convert the country into aninnovation-driven society based on Industry 4.0 technology, he stressed, addingthe NIC will have an advanced development model to create aninternational-level ecosystem for tech start ups.

Dang Quang Vinh, deputy head director the CIEM’s Business Environment andCompetitive Ability Department, said innovation centres in Vietnam haveremained outside the world ranking. In the past 10 years, centres supportingstart-up enterprises did not succeed in creating a billion-dollar company.

The NIC will be the hub for the innovation ecosystem in Vietnam, Vinh said. Inits first stage, the NIC will focus on hardware and software in fields such assmart cities, digital industry (games, advertising, movies and music) andnetwork security.

The CIEM proposed the NIC as a social enterprise with 100 per cent privateinvestment under the provisions of the 2014 Enterprise Law.

The NIC will enjoy business incentives including a 20-year exemption of landuse fees, preferential credit and permission for domestic and foreignenterprises in the same field to rent space.

The centre will be located on a 23ha area of Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park. Theinvestment capital is expected to reach 1.9 trillion VND (82 million USD), 1.7trillion VND of which will be used to build its facilities. Construction willbegin in 2019 and should be finished within three years. The centre can beginoperating during the second year of construction.

Le Hai Mo, deputy head of the Institute of Financial Strategy and Policy underthe Ministry of Finance, said the NIC should be developed under an open modelrather than an administrative model.

Cung said the centre must have a high income to attract talented people whohave options in other countries.

The centre will contribute to the improvement of the country’s innovationsystem and to the implementation of the National Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. TheNIC will have pilot programmes for improving cooperation between the State andbusinesses for social purposes and the implementation of innovative policies toadapt governance to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. - VNA