For many years, HCMC has actively promoted startup activities in the community via 15 startup incubators mostly sited in universities, Saigon Hi-tech Park (SHTP), Agricultural Hi-tech Park of HCMC (AHTP), which has so far offered working space, event location, and necessary equipment for needy startups.
Understanding the importance of incubators in supporting and consulting startups, HCMC has decided to prepare a criteria set following international standards regarding infrastructure, incubation program, operation management, and business networking, including international investment networks.
“These criteria aim at improving the capacity of an incubator to aid innovative startups to successfully commercialize their business ideas, technologies as well as increasing the survival rate of a new startup after its incubation time”, informed Director of SIHUB Huynh Kim Tuoc.
From 8 evaluations obtained from other countries and international incubation organizations, the set developed by SIHUB has 26 criteria, divided into the four groups of infrastructure, operation and services, operation management, output performance.
This set can become a founding frame for university and business incubators. The innovation of this set lies in the great details of all criteria, grading levels and methods to become user-friendly. Thus, it is expected that the set will be widely used among incubators in the city during their upgrading to reach the international level or newly formed incubators.
According to this set, the Hi-tech Business Incubator and the Hi-tech Agricultural Business Incubation Center have proved adequate as to the infrastructure aspect, with a stable operation procedure.
The set is simultaneously able to display weaknesses of existing incubators. For instance, the Hi-tech Business Incubator needs to provide more technical facilities to serve IoT and AI innovative startups; expand working space and sample making workshop; create more links to businesses in researching new products and solutions.
Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Anh Thi – Head of SHTP’s Management Board cum Chairman of the Advisory Board to evaluation the scientific-technological task ‘Research and Build a Startup Incubator Model according to International Standards’ commented that besides being an effective helping tool for the HCMC Science and Technology Department in evaluation incubators in the city, this criteria set can be applied even to the whole nation.
