Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: Strengthening connections and supporting young generation to start businesses

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2025 National Student Startup Festival held at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education on the morning of April 20, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that in recent years, Vietnam has achieved achievements in the development of science and technology, innovation, including the role of startup activities.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and delegates and students attended the festival on the morning of April 20. Photo: VGP

Many impressive numbers

Specifically, the 2024 Global Innovation Index ranked 44/133 countries and economies , up 2 places compared to 2023; Vietnam's global startup ecosystem index also increased 2 places, from 58 to 56, ranking 5th in Southeast Asia and 12th in the Asia-Pacific region; Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi entered the top 200 global startup cities; more than 20 creative startup centers have been established nationwide, attracting a large number of businesses and investors. Notably, in 2024, Vietnam attracted 529 million USD in venture capital for creative startups.

Expressing his joy, the Prime Minister said that after 7 years of implementing the Project "Supporting students to start a business until 2025" (Project 1665), up to now, 100% of universities, academies, colleges, intermediate schools and 63/63 Departments of Education and Training have had plans to implement creative startups. More than 42,000 startup projects have been born from students. The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union at all levels has organized more than 3,500 creative idea competitions, attracting nearly 480,000 young people to participate with nearly 23,000 startup ideas...

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the opening ceremony of the "National Student Startup Day" 2025. Photo: VGP

"Many young people have set up their own businesses, called for investment capital, and created jobs for themselves and others. In particular, thousands of students have continued to write very Vietnamese startup stories but with global stature with products that have changed the way we live, study and work: from applying technology in healthcare, clean agriculture to digital solutions in daily life" - the Prime Minister shared.

Awakening the desire to start a business

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thi Kim Chi expressed her view that if enterprises are the engine of socio-economic development, then the educational environment is the place to create entrepreneurial seeds, arouse the desire to start a business, and nurture the creativity and will to rise of the young generation of Vietnam.

In addition to the achieved results, starting a business among students has never been an easy journey. Project 1665 - with its strategic vision and important mission - has, is and will continue to inspire a wave of young startups in the Vietnamese school community. However, the implementation practice shows that behind the initial results are many obstacles and "bottlenecks".

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh presented Certificates of Merit of the Prime Minister to individuals and groups.

The Deputy Minister of Education and Training pointed out that the startups of many young people sometimes only stop at creative ideas on paper rather than projects that can be transformed into products and services. Lack of knowledge, lack of experience, lack of soft skills - those are the three most obvious "missing corners" in the startup journey of the current young generation.

"Startup activities are still more of a movement and lack depth. Without a long-term support mechanism and a network of investors, it will be difficult for the school startup playground to achieve the desired results," Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Chi emphasized.

At the ceremony, the Prime Minister requested the "three houses" including the State, schools, and businesses to coordinate together to create a developing and effective startup ecosystem for students. In particular, businesses need to actively place orders, invest and accompany students, support practice, internship and commercialization of ideas; together with schools, inspire, invest and lead the younger generation.

"A start-up nation cannot lack the entrepreneurial spirit of each individual, especially the youth. I hope that with aspiration, intelligence and the right guidance, students and 20 million Vietnamese youth will be pioneers, grasping science and technology, undertaking the historic mission of establishing Vietnam's position and stature in the digital age; making Vietnam a center of innovation in the region and the world in the era of national growth, development, civilization and prosperity." - The Prime Minister confided.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-tang-cuong-ket-noi-ho-tro-the-he-tre-khoi-nghiep-196250420133257771.htm