The 2022 Vietnam Innovation Challenge has been launched in Hanoi to seek global solutions and initiatives to address Vietnam’s national issues.

Delegates attend the launching ceremony in Hanoi. Photos: NIC

The program will be an annual event within the framework of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s InnovateVN initiative, in which the Vietnam National Innovation Center (NIC) will partner with major domestic and foreign technology partners.

According to the Vietnam National Innovation Center (NIC), the 15 best solutions will be able to attend the Vietnam Innovation Solutions Honoring Ceremony in April 2023.

In particular, in addition to prizes worth up to US$300,000, the selected solutions will be implemented in provinces and cities across the country.

The program will focus on helping the SMEs improve their governance capacity, strengthen linkages among foreign-invested firms, and large and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), proactively join the global supply chain, and enhance effective policy dialogue between the Government and businesses.

The initiative aims to support and develop 500 pioneering enterprises to lead the economy by 2030 and contribute to improving innovation capacity in the public sector.

Talking about the goal of this year’s program at the kickoff event on October 25, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said: “We call for synergies among the public, private and business sectors domestically and abroad to form, test, and implement innovative initiatives for a prosperous Vietnam.”

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung speaks at the event.

Speaking at the launch, Director of Meta’s Public Policy for South and Southeast Asia Rafael Frankel said the topic of the 2022 Vietnam Innovation Challenge is digital transformation for enterprises in Vietnam.

He was confident that the solutions sought from this annual challenge would serve as catalysts to expedite Vietnam’s digital transformation and to increase competitiveness for more than 800,000 SMEs in Vietnam, which makes up more than 98% of the total number of businesses.