Taiwanese startups boost innovation cooperation in Việt Nam

Startup Island TAIWAN director Allen John Ku speaks at the Taiwan Tech Solution Day at the Vietnam National Innovation Centre in Hà Nội on August 13. — VNS Photo Thanh Hải

Startup Island TAIWAN led 18 of the most innovative startups in co-hosting the Taiwan Tech Solution Day in Hà Nội on August 13.

The event was organised at the Vietnam National Innovation Centre (NIC) with support from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Việt Nam, the Council of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Việt Nam and key local partners, including NIC and the innovation connection platform BambuUp.

Startup Island Taiwan, the national startup brand, is a platform established by Taiwan’s National Development Council to support Taiwanese startups.

Speaking at the event, Startup Island TAIWAN director Allen John Ku highlighted the event as a good opportunity to connect the startup ecosystems of Taiwan and Việt Nam, paving the way for future collaboration and innovation.

This year’s Taiwan Tech Solution Day in Hà Nội received a lot of attention and engagement from Việt Nam’s public sector and major enterprises.

NIC deputy director Đỗ Tiến Thịnh praised the effectiveness of investment projects of Taiwanese businesses in Việt Nam. “Foxconn can be considered a typical successful investment of Taiwanese technology enterprises in particular and Taiwanese enterprises in general in Việt Nam,” he said.

Taiwan is currently the fourth largest investment partner and fifth largest trade partner of Việt Nam with an FDI investment scale of over US$37 billion, compared to the total FDI of $24 billion from 27 European Union countries, according to Thịnh.

The NIC deputy director also said that Việt Nam has a good ecosystem for startups and good opportunities for Taiwanese technology businesses to come here.

With a population of 100 million people, Việt Nam is in the process of promoting green transformation in many industries, with many opportunities for Vietnamese people to use products of Taiwanese technology enterprises.

“Việt Nam is seen as a very good location for local and international startups. The Taiwan Tech Solution Day will provide good chances for Taiwanese and Vietnamese startups to exchange knowledge and connect investment opportunities.”

NIC deputy director Đỗ Tiến Thịnh speaks at the Taiwan Tech Solution Day in Hà Nội on August 13. — VNS Photo Thanh Hải

The event featured prominent representatives from leading Vietnamese tech corporations and notable Taiwanese venture partners, fostering a collaborative environment for the burgeoning digital economy.

The participating Taiwanese startups showcased their cutting-edge technologies across various sectors, demonstrating Taiwan’s strengths in digital services, including e-commerce, marketing and education.

The startups also highlighted their advancements in cybersecurity, trust technology, smart manufacturing, IoT and sustainable industries. Among the notable participants, Gogolook, a leader in trust tech and a NEXT BIG startup, has successfully expanded its reach into Southeast Asia, including markets like Thailand and the Philippines and is now actively moving into the Vietnamese market.

Other standout startups included IsCoolLab, a specialist in robotic processing for the manufacturing sector and Sightour, an optical character recognition technology innovator.

Both companies have established manufacturing partnerships in Việt Nam, completing their Proof of Concept and preparing to scale up further.

Additionally, energy management firms 3Egreen and ZiG have made significant strides in reducing energy costs for manufacturers, aiding them in achieving ESG goals and earning carbon credits.

Curtis Wu, CEO of 3Egreen, said that his company’s solutions will help Việt Nam a lot in the energy conversion process. Accordingly, low-carbon development is understood as a model of economic development in the direction of using/consuming less energy and releasing fewer pollutants and CO2 emissions.

Wu said that 3Egreen has successfully provided energy conversion solutions for many Taiwanese businesses in Việt Nam. The goal of green energy conversion is also of great concern to the Vietnamese Government. And this time, 3Egreen is looking to expand its search for more Vietnamese business partners.

Taiwan’s Top 4 startup, ZiG, has independently developed a universal IoT system that allows applications in different scenarios to quickly adopt IoT systems through modularisation. The company’s customers are spread across Mainland China, Taiwan and Việt Nam.

The event featured insights from IT solution company SotaTek, which shared its successful collaboration cases across several Asian countries to support its work in growing Việt Nam’s digital economy.

Discussions on chip and manufacturing also captivated the audience, with venture capitalists from ThinkZone and Hive Ventures sharing their perspectives on the investment landscape. — VNS