In 2025, Ho Chi Minh City’s startup ecosystem continued to develop, rating among the many world’s high 110 ecosystems. Making additional progress, the southern financial hub climbs 12 locations from final yr to rank 98th worldwide within the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2026 launched by StartupBlink, marking its highest place ever within the rankings.
The Tech Awards 2025 ceremony, honouring excellent technological merchandise and manufacturers throughout varied classes, in Ho Chi Minh City on January 8, 2026. (Photo: VNA)
It is house to just about half of Vietnam’s startups and has produced three of the nation’s know-how “unicorns” – VNG, MoMo and Sky Mavis. The metropolis presently hosts 143 science and know-how enterprises, accounting for round 20% of the nationwide whole. Total issue productiveness (TFP) contributes 59% to town’s GRDP development, with science and know-how accountable for 74% of TFP development.
These achievements stem from the metropolis’s coordinated implementation of startup assist insurance policies, alongside a large-scale basis for science, know-how and schooling. Ho Chi Minh City accommodates dozens of universities and schools, a whole bunch of science – know-how organisations and innovation assist intermediaries, in addition to a rising community of contemporary laboratories.
Building on this cornerstone, town continues to strengthen its place as a sexy vacation spot for each home and worldwide know-how funding. In 2025, the science and know-how sector drew practically 1.8 billion USD, representing 22% of whole FDI inflows. Major initiatives embrace G42 UAE, Viettel Data Centre, CMC and SAP Labs, along with the presence of world know-how giants akin to NVIDIA, AMD and Intel. The figures underline town’s rising enchantment to world know-how capital.
Fintech Hub is formally launched in Ho Chi Minh City on April 14, 2026. (Photo: VNA)
After greater than twenty years of growth, the Saigon Hi-Tech Park has emerged as a core innovation hub for each town and Vietnam’s southern key financial area. The park has cultivated a vibrant high-tech ecosystem, attracting main world firms together with Intel, Samsung, Nidec, Jabil, Sonion, Sanofi and Schneider Electric, with greater than 160 funding initiatives with whole registered capital exceeding 12 billion USD. It has additionally served because the launchpad for Vietnamese corporations with worldwide ambitions akin to FPT, CMC and Datalogic Vietnam.
In 2025, the manufacturing worth on the Saigon Hi-Tech Park reached roughly 23 billion USD whereas newly attracted funding totalled 416.5 million USD and export turnover stood at over 20.53 billion USD. Beyond funding attraction, the park has established analysis and growth (R&D) centres, coaching services and incubation centres for high-tech enterprises, contributing to the event of high-quality human sources, supporting innovation and accelerating the commercialisation of “Make in Vietnam” merchandise.
Meanwhile, the Quang Trung Software City (QTSC) – Vietnam’s first concentrated data know-how park – has, after 25 years of growth, attracted 27 traders and constructed a neighborhood of greater than 120 digital know-how enterprises. QTSC enterprises presently present greater than 650 merchandise, companies and technological options for each the home market and over 30 international locations worldwide. From an preliminary state funding of simply 200 billion VND (7.58 million USD), the park has mobilised greater than 6.6 trillion VND in social funding capital, which means each dong of state capital has leveraged greater than 24 dong in non-public funding.
More than merely a hub for know-how corporations, the QTSC has fashioned a broader innovation ecosystem, fostering shut collaboration between enterprises, universities and analysis institutes. Seven universities and know-how coaching establishments right here collectively provide greater than 3,000 know-how professionals to companies every year.
Unlocking potential and mobilising sources
As it enters a brand new stage of growth, Ho Chi Minh City is shifting decisively in direction of a development mannequin pushed by science – know-how, innovation and high-quality human sources. Deep funding in R&D, strategic know-how sectors and innovation-oriented establishments is seen as a central pillar in constructing a brand new aggressive edge for town.
By 2030, town goals for whole social expenditure on R&D to succeed in between 2 and 3% of GRDP, with greater than 60% coming from non-state sources. It additionally targets the annual completion and deployment of not less than 40 city-level science and know-how initiatives, alongside the implementation of a minimal of fifty new science and know-how missions every year.
The southern metropolis goals to lift the proportion of scientific and technological analysis outcomes utilized in observe inside 12 months to greater than 60%, whereas not less than 25% of enterprises are to utilise analysis outputs from universities and analysis institutes. Ho Chi Minh City can be concentrating on a 60% contribution from TFP to GRDP development and plans to ascertain not less than 5 internationally aggressive centres for utilized analysis and innovation in precedence sectors.
A lady makes use of an administrative service robotic to search for public administrative procedures in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VNA)
To obtain these ambitions, it plans to concentrate on interdisciplinary flagship analysis programmes centred on strategic applied sciences, core platforms and key technological merchandise. Priority will first be given to digital transformation and sensible metropolis constructing programmes, geared toward creating shared digital platforms, data-driven governance fashions, cybersecurity options and digital merchandise.
Workers function a contemporary manufacturing line invested by a Japanese firm on the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VNA)
In industrial know-how and sensible manufacturing, the main focus will embrace semiconductor chip design, packaging and testing; AI chips and IoT chips; industrial robotics, autonomous robots and unmanned units; sensible logistics; superior processing strains; new power applied sciences; superior supplies; and digital manufacturing platforms. The transfer is designed to allow town to progressively grasp core applied sciences, enhance localisation charges and combine city-based enterprises extra deeply into world worth chains.
Advanced laboratory programs and scientific devices are in operation on the biotechnology laboratory of the International University beneath the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VNA)
In well being care and medical companies, Ho Chi Minh City is prioritising the event and mastery of biomedical applied sciences, prescribed drugs, digital well being care, precision medication, personalised medication, genetic applied sciences, sensible medical units and AI purposes in diagnostic imaging and medical knowledge evaluation. The goal is to strengthen the native healthcare system by extra proactive illness prevention, earlier detection, extra correct prognosis and simpler therapy.
Tissue-cultured orchid crops are cultivated on the Ho Chi Minh City Agricultural Hi-Tech Park. (Photo: Agriculture and Environment Newspaper)
Within city agriculture, Ho Chi Minh City is investing efforts in cutting-edge sci-tech options to boost productiveness, high quality and added worth whereas decreasing environmental air pollution and selling sustainable growth.
A community of practically 2,000 surveillance cameras is being run by Ho Chi Minh City site visitors police to watch site visitors circumstances and improve highway security. (Photo: VNA)
At the identical time, programmes on fashionable city governance and local weather adaptation contain flood prevention, tidal management, waste administration, environmental monitoring, power administration, inexperienced transport, city logistics and digital twin fashions of simulation, forecasting and real-time city operations. These analysis areas are thought to be crucial for a megacity going through mounting strain on infrastructure and the atmosphere.
With a powerful basis in science and know-how ecosystems, innovation and digital transformation, along with breakthrough mechanisms launched by main nationwide resolutions and long-term funding methods for analysis capability and high-quality human sources, the financial hub is steadily advancing in direction of its ambition of changing into considered one of Southeast Asia’s main centres./. VNA
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