Hanoi opens an innovation company

This is the first time the city has established an innovation center following the model of a joint stock company dominated by state capital. HiHUB has three founding shareholders: Hanoi People’s Committee, Hanoi University of Science and Technology and CMC technology group. The city holds 70% of the capital, the remaining two partners hold 30%. The center is determined not to pursue short-term profits, but to build a knowledge-based growth engine for the Capital.

According to Hanoi Vice Chairman Truong Viet Dung, the establishment of HiHUB is “not simply adding another unit”. This is the step to create a new model: State oriented, enterprises operated; from allocation to co-investment and risk sharing; from discrete support to ecosystem orchestration.

The first difference lies in the organizational model. HiHUB is a joint stock company with state capital, but operates according to modern corporate governance standards: Financial transparency, risk control, responsibility to shareholders and the law. Instead of each department and sector implementing the program individually, HiHUB will act as the coordinating focal point. Urban development problems are brought to institutes and schools. Startups are connected to investors and the market. Technological innovation is associated with a controlled testing mechanism. Data becomes the foundation for specific products and intellectual property.

Issues in fields such as smart cities, digital health, digital education, digital culture, environment, urban security… will be converted into “open topics”. Businesses, institutes and schools join together to solve the problem. “The city wants to manage state capital according to modern and transparent standards but not stifle creativity; control risks but still accept experimentation within allowed limits,” Mr. Dung said.

From an operational perspective, Mr. Tran Quang Hung, Chairman of HiHUB, said that Hanoi has an opportunity to position itself as a “hub” for controlled testing of new technology and business models for global innovators. According to him, the domestic market is large enough, the population is young and ready to accept new things, which are Hanoi’s advantages. If utilized well, the city can attract international capital, technology and experience, while also creating opportunities for young Vietnamese founders to grow up faster.

Mr. Hung said HiHUB’s first strategic focus is changing thinking. Hanoi not only needs to solve its problems with local resources, but also needs to attract the global creative community, bringing the most advanced technology and models to test here.

“We must become a global hub for testing new technologies and business models,” he said. Areas that can be deployed are artificial intelligence applications, self-driving cars, financial technology, digital assets, or creative industries associated with Hanoi’s identity.

The second focus is on foreign policy to turn thinking into action. HiHUB wants to “line the nest” for technology businesses and Vietnamese people abroad to return to work and start businesses. In addition, the center also plays a role in coordinating and protecting important domestic creative industries.

To realize the above orientations, the center builds a four-phase model. In the final stage, HiHUB aims to become an attraction for domestic and foreign investment funds. At that time, the center’s capital source is not only for direct investment, but also plays a guarantor role, leading social capital flows to participate.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Chinh, Chairman of CMC, founding shareholder of the company, evaluated HiHUB as a step to concretize the “three houses” model (State, schools and businesses) in promoting innovation. In that structure, CMC represents the technology business sector, acting as a bridge between science, policy and the market, helping research results and policies come into practice.