Vu Thi Hong Ngoc

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing countries in ASEAN. It is also considered a rising creative hub in Asia thanks to its rising affluence and prosperity, greater ease of doing business, wider and faster Internet and mobile connectivity,…. They are factors that help the startup ecosystem to flourish.

If you’re thinking about basing your startup in Vietnam, expanding into this promising market, or if you simply want to find out more information about the programs available, please find below the list of 4 accelerators and incubators in Vietnam. It is especially useful if you have a/some innovation idea(s), as the accelerators and incubators will help you to drive it into reality.

1. Vietnam Silicon Valley

Location and Contact Information: 

• Address: VSV Corner, 7th Floor, 24 Ly Thuong Kiet Str., Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi, Vietnam
• Working hours: Mon-Fri 7am – 7pm, Sat 7am – 12pm
• Phone Number: +84422189777
• Email: hello@siliconvalley.com.vn
• Website: http://www.siliconvalley.com.vn/

About: Under development by the Ministry of Science and Technology in conjunction with the Vietnamese Government, Vietnam Silicon Valley accepts raw startups with just an idea, to companies with a significant user numbers and prior investment. It focusses on online gaming, mobile applications, e-commerce, e-learning, technology-applied businesses and digital media sectors.

Offer: 

• Four-month intensive program. Funding amount ranges from US$10,000 – US$25,000, with 10 per cent equity taken. 
• Vietnam Silicon Valley provides legal and business consulting, along with office space.
• Startups will have a chance to pitch to angel investors, and local and global venture capitalists at the end of the program.

2. IDG Ventures Vietnam

Location and Contact Information: 

• Hanoi Office:

• Address: V Building, 5th Floor, Unit 502, 125-127 Ba Trieu Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi City, Vietnam
• Phone: (84-4) 2220-0348 | Fax: (84-4) 2220-0349 
• Ho Chi Minh Office:

• Address: Centec Tower, 5th Floor, Suite 504C, 72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
• Phone: (84-8) 3827-8888 | Fax: (84-8) 3827-8899 
• Email Addresses:

• Business Plan Submission: bizplan@idgvv.com.vn 
• Employment: hr@idgvv.com.vn 
• Media & General Inquiry: info@idgvv.com.vn 
• Website: http://idgvv.com.vn/en/ 

About:  IDG Ventures has a history of working with companies which are at the early-stage. It typically invests in companies with a focus on consumer technology, media and ICT sectors.

Offer:

• IDG Ventures helps innovative companies to grow on a global basis with US$100 million under management. 
• IDG Ventures provides strategic guidance, business development, marketing and recruitment support.

3. Hatch! Ventures

4. VIISALocation and Contact Information: 

• Address: 7th Floor, 7 Xa Dan, Ba Dinh District, ​Hanoi, Vietnam
• Email: xinchao@hatch.vn
• Phone Number: +84 925 883 636
• Website: http://www.hatch.vn/

About: Hatch! Ventures has been established since 2012. It is an NGO consisting of four pillars: community building, co-working space, seed-funding and startup incubating. HATCH! Ventures’ programs have attracted +100 supporting entrepreneurs and + 10,000 startups participating. All income of HATCH! Ventures is used to re-invest in activities supporting for startup ecosystem in Vietnam. 

Offer: 

• Three-month program. Each startup is matched with one to three mentors with different expertise. 
• HATCH! Ventures helps startup to refine business plans, provide insights, knowledge and experience in a specific field, as well as expand the startup’s network.

4. VIISA

Location and Contact Information: 

• Address: 1bis Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Ben Nghe, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
• Website: http://www.viisa.vn/

About:  The Vietnam Innovative Startup Accelerator (VIISA) is an accelerator program and seed stage fund that will invest $6 million to build global-ready startups in Vietnam. VIISA is powered by FPT Company and Dragon Capital and partnership with AWS Portfolio Plus, Zendesk Startup Program, DigitalOcean HATCH!,….

Offer: 

• Funding: Startup will receive up to $15,000 in cash; In-kind services including cloud servers, office space, and other resources during the course of the acceleration program in exchange for transferable equity.
• Extensive Mentorship: Startup will receive guidance and support from over 150+ global entrepreneurs, investors, community leaders, and corporate partners.
• Resources: Over US$100,000 worth of technical resources, access to IT consultancy, bank accounts and administration, accounting services and more.
• Follow-on Funding: Promising graduates will be able to get follow-on funding of up to $200,000 from VIISA, should they secure a new round of funding.
• Corporate Networks: VIISA’s corporate partners can help startups get in front of businesses and key decision makers
• Corporate Networks: VIISA’s corporate partners can help startups get in front of businesses and key decision makers

Gaëlle BRAYER

By: Dang Son Duong

The Vietnam Government official made the remarks while attending the “Business Revitalisation and Innovation: Breakthroughs from Mind to Action” CEO Forum 2019 held on April 5.

Addressing the forum, Deputy PM Hue affirmed that the Party and State advocate the transformation of growth models based on the application of science and technology and innovation in order to improve the productivity, quality and competitiveness of the economy.

Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue speaking at the forum

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said that each enterprise should be a centre of innovation amid the urgent requirements of innovation in mind and action

The government has increasingly improved the business environment and strengthened the macroeconomic foundation, in addition to promoting the start-up ecosystem and innovation and creating the most favourable conditions to support enterprises.

He emphasised that creating breakthroughs is the message that the Government wants to deliver to all ministries, localities and enterprises to achieve the socio-economic targets in 2019 and the five-year socio-economic development plan in the 2016-2020 period.

Enterprises cannot go alone in their process of innovation, thus, the Government is committed to accompany enterprises in such a difficult but promising career, Deputy PM Hue noted.

Thanks to the Master 2 Innovate Project Management Program, we have known about concepts and applications of innovation and how important it is. In my point of view, not only each enterprise should be a centre of innovation, but also each university. People who graduated from universities may become high quality manpower in the future.

Futhermore, universities and enterprises should consider about sharing economy. The sharing economy can refer to social peer-to-peer processes that include sharing of access to goods and services,or any rental transaction facilitated by a two-sided market, including business to consumer. Universities and Enterprises can collaborate with others to be more successful in the future.

Thank Master 2 Innovative Project Management Program for bringing to us great opportunities and valuable knowlegdes!

Gaëlle BRAYER

By  TA HONG SON and NGUYEN THI THU THUY

Hanoi, “the city of peace” proudly became the host for the wildly controversial peace talk between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and United States’ Donald Trump. Holding this title for almost 20 years, we thought of the question “Should we be known of something else” in Mrs. Ghissia Hauser’s class: Collaborative projects and open innovation.

Our speaker “Thuy”, a representation from the local UNESCO chapter came to address us the problem of city planning. During the struggle for growth and future cooperation with the Hanoi People Committee, a branding professional was invited from Britain to investigate on the issue. Through his findings, a simple and achievable method is to improve the city with creativity. Stemming from the involvements of UNESCO’s support for changes and creativity hub program throughout different regions in Vietnam. At the same time, we were also honored to welcome the director of VICAS art studio, a direct project for creativity from the public sector to understand more of the situation in the industry. A proposal to join UNESCO Creative Cities Network was made.

Though, little to none financial rewards can be gained via this program, Hanoi will now be available to more and more opportunities of marketing, sharing information and learning management programs with other cities.

Afterall, the idea of a city of creativity is still a farfetched plan. A more detailed and collaborative roadmap with the local government is always a must in order for the augmentation to be realized.

However, as a Student of innovation, we will always believe in the future of a creative city which can be known with others countries.

Gaëlle BRAYER

By Dang Son DUONG and Nguyen Thu QUYEN

In MPIE Program, we have chances to meet representatives from UNESCO to listen and share about Open Innovation. From their introduction of Hanoi Creative Network, we started to make a quick search on Google and we found out Creative Lab by Up.

Creative Lab by Up is a coworking space right in the heart of Hanoi – Home for the youth who are passionate about start-ups and technology.

In Vietnam, coworking space is a popular concept. However, there are few spaces with modern equipment and machinery for creative community. 

Hanoi Creative Lab meets these needs. It is an open innovation place for artists, designers, enterprises and the young. In Hanoi Creative Lab, customers can exchange, share ideas, develop new products in an innovative environment. 

The creative space Creative Lab by UP was opened on June 25 in Hanoi Creative City, 1 Luong Yen street, Hai Ba Trung district in Hanoi. It is the product of cooperation among UP Co-working Space, Hanoi Creative City, and University of Engineering and Technology (Vietnam National University).

Hanoi Creative Lab provides visitors with high-tech equiments such as sewing machines, 3D printing machines, electronic machines, and automation machines. Therefore, visitors can feel free to create and build their own products.

The Lab has a total of 6 main areas: Electricity, Mechanical, Prototype, Wood, Sewing Factory and other Design areas, serving for different customer segments. It is a wonderful place for your project to make a prototype, test it and receive advices from experts in Hanoi Creative Lab.

With 500m2 area, Hanoi Creative Lab is a great place to generate new ideas, create new products and develop new partners. Many groups and individuals have come here to build and develop their own project.

Gaëlle BRAYER

 By Ha Trang Nhung & Hai Yen – Hanoi, 15/03/2019

CÀ PHÊ THỨ BẢY – Saturday Coffee, a culture space located in Ngo Quyen district in Hanoi was opened in 2014 by cooperation of a Vietnamese famous musician – Duong Thu and Chairman of Trung Nguyen Corporation – Dang Le Nguyen Vu.

This Culture Space comes up from the desire of a “quintessential Vietnam” of Duong Thu and aspiration of a “mighty Vietnam” of Trung Nguyen Chairman. Saturday Coffee is an ideal rendezvous for coffee lovers and a special and meaningful cultural hub for artists and art lovers.

Vietnam is one of the leading coffee exporters in the world. Trung Nguyen is a famous brand of coffee in Vietnam and through many years, this Corporation has been trying to promote Vietnamese coffee over the world. Thus, coming to Saturday Coffee, it is not only drinking coffee, it offers you a way of enjoying Vietnamese coffee culture. Vietnamese coffee culture is unique and has characteristics that distinguish it from other coffees and brewing methods. The authentic Vietnamese café-style is phin coffee. 

Generally the coffee is served while it is still brewing. Coarsely ground beans are put into a drip filter (called a phin) which sits on top of the cup, hot water is added to the phin, and then the coffee slowly trickles through into the cup. The filter makes one cup of exquisitely-brewed coffee and is the ideal way to enjoy coffee. While waiting for coffee drops into the cup, you can enjoy its aromatic, charming and attractive smelling.  If you are rushing, you are not patient enough, you will never have chance to truly enjoy phin café. The taste of Vietnamese coffee is a unique thing that makes Vietnamese coffee different from other countries in the world. At first, it may be bitter, may be strange, but then, the bitterness becomes sweet, the strange becomes familiar. Imagine how great it is when sitting in a cozy room and enjoying a hot aromatic coffee cup in the cold of autumn and winter season. 

 Saturday Coffee is also an interesting cultural exchange space for artists and art lovers. There are regular talk shows and workshops about art, music, movie, books and writing, architecture, cinema,… which attracts many people including scientists, writers, journalists, entrepreneurs coming for sharing and learning. 

Musician Duong Thu is a big name in Vietnamese music village, who gives inspiration for many young musicians and singers in Vietnam. Under his leading, Saturday Coffee has been a favorable environment for creators and creative people, where they can connect with each other, gain more knowledge, enjoy healthy entertainment through high quality activities. People can go to Saturday Coffee to enjoy classical songs of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin,… People can go to Saturday Coffee to share their ideas or viewpoints on matters of life.

Aside this busy life, Saturday Coffee is truly a place to connect and to be creative.

Gaëlle BRAYER

By Sujin, Dieu anh

At 14, Phan Huy Ich street, we can found a small but beautiful space in Hanoi. 

The last few years, there have been a lot of coffee shops and art galleries open in Hanoi’s old villas. Among them, Manzi café is one of the art-space and bar and it is located in the old villa in Hanoi city. 

If you walk into the door of Manzi’s café, it seems like normal café. But if you go upstairs, you will be surprised by hundreds of masterpieces that the Vietnamese artists made. Most of them are drawing, but there are some beautiful sculptures. 

Not only people can look around the artwork, but also can enjoy some kind of coffees and snacks at the gallery. This place is wonderful and creative because people who interest in Art can come to the space and share stories among them. Because the gallery is decorated in cafe form, it is easy for people not interested in art to visit and enjoy the art.

We’ve learned through the lecture ‘open innovation’ that innovation is from something exist already and we can create a innovative thing through the combination of the old one. If you can visit in the Manzi café, you will agree that how normal things can be innovative through artistic presentation. Many works of art in there were created by the trivial things around us. And I think that creativity starts with eyes looking ordinary things at new point views. 

And we recommend this place for anyone who want to get inspired and understand what is innovative things in Hanoi. It is the one of creative cities in Hanoi that we found!

Thank you.

Gaëlle BRAYER

By Dang Vuong Bao and Duong Minh Ngoc

On December 17th, Hoan Kiem District People’s Committee (Hanoi) begin to implement the project “Hanoi Colors” with electrical cabinets on Trang Tien, Trang Thi and Hang Khay streets under the theme, called : “2 seasons of flowers in Hanoi” to welcome the upcoming 2019 Lunar New Year . Project implementation time is occurred from December 15th to December 30th, 2018.

 The purpose of drawing on electric cabinets is to create a new beauty for aged, hard and rough things, to contribute to beauty for Hanoi and raise the pround of Hanoiian.

 In order to implement these paintings, artists must have long-term experience because of the fact that when we paint on electrical cabinets, the surface is not as flat as paper’s surface. Moreover, when drawing, the artist must design carefully so that the painting is suitable for each different electric cabinet. In order to complete a good painting, it takes the artist a day to finish drawing an electrical cabinet.

When foreigners looking at these pieces of art, it seems to be that the street corner become more vivid like Beaumont City of Texas. 

Gaëlle BRAYER

by DAO KHANH HUYEN (No.04) AND VU THI HONG NGOC (No. 07)

Vietnam’s rapid urbanisation and significant economic growth in recent decades have brought various opportunities to develop the nation’s creative industries in urbanised centres, such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. It also opens the doors for creative and cultural industries in Vietnam to grow and flourish. Cultural and creative hubs, which are organisations and businesses working in the arts and culture sector, are now playing the key role in the creative and cultural industries. 

It is said that the operation of creative hubs like this can help promote cultural diversity.

Based on a report conducted recently by the British Council, cultural and creative hubs in Hanoi are divided into several categories. The first category is art hubs where people can find exhibitions, art talks, and even art courses. Some of the famous names in this category are The heritage space, Manzi, Nha san collective. The second one is music hubs which offer music shows and cultural events such as Hanoi Rock city, Cama Atk to name just a few. The third one is Multi-media hubs whichgather film-makers, photographers, videographers, and graphic designers. Hanoi Doclab and TDP Movies are top players. Next is co-working spaces such as Hatch co-working space, Hub.it. These are a shared workplace, often an office, where start-ups work together and join networking events. Craft hubs which promote the Vietnamese craft products and give an authentic insight into the craftwork to the local and foreign guests, top players in this category are Hanoi design center, Zo project. There are, a part from five categories mentioned above, lots of other hubs in Hanoi that you can drop by, such as Chula – a showroom of contemporary fashion with music performance and film screenings, Workroom four – an art, fashion, and design studio and classes blended in exhibitions, and cultural events, and much more.

Despite the fast growth and emergence of creative hubs in Hanoi, there are still some challenges to the sustainability of their existence. Many hubs live are found in constant threat of closure due to capricious landlords and lack of support from local authorities. A further challenge for hub development was the limited management and business skills of hub owners. To better preserve this burgeoning hub movement, here should be a need for greater financial support and investment in creative hubs, as well as more opportunities for networking and ideas exchange events.

Gaëlle BRAYER

by NIKITA KHAITAROV,

It is important for the country to develop not only economy, but also the culture, which is an important part of any country. This is also said by UNESCO, which launched a unique project called «Creative cities» “To promote innovation and creativity as key factors for sustainable and inclusive urban development”. With this program, the cities included in this list have the opportunity to exchange cultural experiences and achievements, as well as increase their attractiveness for tourists. 

Although Hanoi is not yet included in this network, nevertheless UNESCO believes that the capital of Vietnam is the cultural center of the country and can become a creative city of design. I completely agree with this and wanted to talk a little about the creative side of Hanoi. 

Creative hubs are an important place for musicians, photographers, artist, designers and other creative people. In Hanoi, they have many opportunities to satisfy their needs. Here they can find music hubs, co-working spaces, art hubs and other interesting places.

One of the most remarkable places is Heritage Space. According to the organizer, « it is space for creativity, enjoyment and aims at new values in Arts & Cultural scene in Vietnam». There is a library that can be used as a room for study, presentations or seminars. In addition visitors can attend large well-equipped gallery where they can hold exhibitions and master classes.

Musicians also have much opportunities to demonstrate their talents. There are a lot of music cafes, such as Hanoi Rock City or Bar 84. Also, every weekend, starting from Friday, a pedestrian zone is formed around Hoan Kiem lake, where you can meet many musicians who delight passersby with their music.

It is very important for startups to have a place where they can work comfortably. Fortunately, Hanoi is the creative city, so there are many coworking spaces that are ready to offer their services for a reasonable fee. Some of such places are Hub.it, Hatch Co-working Space etc.

Although I described the meager part of the opportunities available to creative people in Hanoi, I assure you that you can find here many other places – studios, showrooms, craft hubs. If you consider yourself a creative person, then you simply must visit this city.

Gaëlle BRAYER