MoU to boost Ho Chi Minh City and region’s startup and innovation ecosystem

Tiếng Việt

MoU to boost Ho Chi Minh City and region’s startup and innovation ecosystem

RMIT University Vietnam recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB) at the former’s Saigon South Campus.

Mr Huynh Kim Tuoc (Managing Director of SIHUB) and Professor Gael McDonald (President of RMIT Vietnam) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to boost Ho Chi Minh City and region’s startup and innovation ecosystem.

Through the MoU, RMIT Vietnam and SIHUB will cooperate in co-hosting entrepreneurship and innovation-focused national and regional events and programs on a case-by-case basis, in addition to exchanging relevant information, expertise and respective available resources.

Mr Huynh Kim Tuoc, Managing Director of SIHUB, said that educational institutions play a crucial role in the development of startup and innovation ecosystems in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Universities can contribute to this development by designing a standard system of activities, including providing training, building startup and research spaces, and commercialising research outcomes,” Mr Tuoc said.

“However, it is a new concept to many local universities, and might not be fully developed in a short period of time.”

Mr Tuoc hopes that through its great potential, strengths, and staff and students, RMIT Vietnam can be a role model for other local universities to learn from.

“Based on the example of RMIT Vietnam, we can show local institutions how to provide entrepreneur and innovation programs in a university, how to organise entrepreneurial activities within a university, how to form an activator space or activity…and especially how to commercialise research outcomes,” Mr Tuoc said.

RMIT Vietnam President Professor Gael McDonald was also thrilled by the formal cooperation.

“We see many opportunities where we can support and also learn from SIHUB,” Professor McDonald said.

Professor McDonald also discussed an entrepreneurship road map for RMIT Vietnam students, as well as the University’s just-launched activator space, where they can nurture their enterprising spirit and practices.

“We created a physical presence whereby our students can get themselves into a group or get support for ideas that they have,” Professor McDonald said.

“We developed the Graduate Certificate in Business Startups which implies four courses that can be undertaken either through intensive learning or over weekends, as a group or individually, and each one of those courses can be cross-created back into the Master of Business Administration, Master of Business Administration (Executive) or Master of International Business for those who want to go through a more external route.”

As part of a large university, Professor McDonald believes that RMIT Vietnam students can benefit from the activator, as well as a number of other programs which are available through RMIT University Melbourne.

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About RMIT Vietnam

RMIT University Vietnam is the Asian campus of Melbourne-based RMIT University. Starting with just over 30 students in 2001 in Ho Chi Minh City, and then in Hanoi in 2004, RMIT Vietnam now boasts a dynamic student body of over 6,000 at both campuses. RMIT Vietnam offers programs in the business, technology, and creative areas, and boasts an impressive range of extra-curricular activities that encourage students to break new ground in their areas of interest.

About Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB)

With support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and MBI, the Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB) was officially launched in August 2016. Its mission is to promote and support Ho Chi Minh City to become a lead start-up hub of Southeast Asia. Through 2020, SIHUB aims to connect the global startup community by connecting with international partners and the world’s start-up support ecosystems. SIHUB is now connecting and collaborating with many ecosystems from various countries including Switzerland, Sweden, United States of America, Finland, Canada, South Korean, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia.