At the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Viet Dung - Member of the City Party Committee, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology shared his experiences in building and implementing the Saigon Innovation Hub model at Science and Technology Advances Application Center with the aim of connecting components in the innovation and startup ecosystem, followed by the Ho Chi Minh City Innovation and Startup Center, with 4 main roles including: providing facilities for the innovation and startup community, spreading innovation and startup policies, organizing innovation and startup activities, and linking to support the development of small and medium enterprises.

Accordingly, the Center for Creative Startups has areas: supporting the innovative startup community managed by the State (co-working space, open connection space, training room, etc.); space to attract the private sector to participate in investment, design and implementation of incubation and acceleration programs; space to prioritize technology solution fields for smart cities (Big data, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT), e-government, etc.); e-commerce; financial technology (Fintech); creative industries (cinema, performing arts, fine arts, photography - exhibitions, advertising and cultural tourism, communications, etc.); life sciences - Life Science.

In addition, there are also programs to support innovative small and medium enterprises by connecting them with the startup community. Currently, many units have contacted the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology to operate here, however, the procedures and conditions for startups have not yet been approved.

In addition, the project of the Ho Chi Minh City Creative Startup Center also outlines a plan to exploit infrastructure and facilities to serve innovation support activities and creative startups. However, the procedures for bidding and selection in the form of providing working space at market prices and with incentives (as prescribed by Ho Chi Minh City People's Council) for units with capacity and functions that meet the criteria of contributing to the development of the innovation ecosystem in the City's priority sectors and fields are not clear, making the center's operational functions unclear.

At the meeting, the two sides also exchanged and discussed a number of contents, such as connecting social resources for the creative startup ecosystem, promoting domestic and international cooperation in the field of innovation and startups, and enhancing communication of innovation and startup activities.