Creative startup projects in Ho Chi Minh City are supported up to 800 million VND

The resolution stipulating the criteria, conditions, order, procedures, content and level of support from the city budget for creative start-up projects in the digital technology industry in the area was approved by the People’s Council of Ho Chi Minh City at its third meeting on June 19.

Accordingly, a project can receive support in 5 content groups with a total maximum of 800 million VND. The largest support is for technology purchase and technology innovation, up to 400 million VND per project, equivalent to 50% of actual costs. This funding is used to purchase technology copyrights, software licenses, digital technology solutions or transfer technology to directly serve the project.

In addition, there is also a maximum support for training and development of digital technology human resources of 100 million VND, equivalent to 50% of the actual cost of participating in training courses and issuing digital technology certificates at home and abroad.

The project is supported up to 100 million VND to attract high-quality human resources, experts and digital technology talents.

Research and development (R&D) and trial production activities are granted a maximum of 150 million VND, equivalent to 50% of the implementation budget.

Businesses also receive the highest support of 50 million VND for startup consulting activities, including legal advice, management, finance, intellectual property, business strategy and capital raising.

To qualify for the policy, the project must be a creative startup project in the field of digital technology industry deployed in Ho Chi Minh City, have passed the idea stage and be able to commercialize the product. Enterprises must commit to using funds for the right purpose, fully fulfilling financial obligations and not receiving duplicate support from other programs for the same expenditure content.

In addition to mandatory conditions, the project must also meet the criteria of feasibility, implementation capacity, applicability, socio-economic efficiency, compliance with intellectual property regulations, technology transfer and a plan to commercialize the product.

Particularly for the technology purchase and technology innovation categories, the project must demonstrate the creation of new products or services, or significant improvements compared to existing ones; and have a legal contract or commitment to transfer technology.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City government, the promulgation of the policy comes from the need to implement the Digital Technology Industry Law, while creating motivation for the city’s digital technology startup ecosystem. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has about 1,588 innovative startups, of which e-commerce and artificial intelligence account for about 25%. The city sets a goal of forming 5,000 creative startups by 2030.

According to calculations by the drafting agency, if deployed at the expected scale each year, the budget would need about 32 billion VND. Of which, 5 billion VND is for human resource training, 5 billion VND for attracting experts, 7.5 billion VND for R&D and pilot production activities, 2.5 billion VND for startup consulting and 12 billion VND for technology purchase and technology innovation.

The city assesses that resources for policy implementation are guaranteed when the estimated expenditure for science and technology, innovation and digital transformation in 2026 still has more than 3,367 billion VND not yet allocated for specific tasks.

Ho Chi Minh City is the leading innovation and startup center in the country. According to the StartupBlink 2026 rankings, the city increased 12 places, to position 98 in the world – the highest ranking ever, and completed the goal of entering the top 100 global startup ecosystems 4 years early. The city also ranks 5th in Southeast Asia and belongs to the region’s most dynamic startup ecosystem, with outstanding fields such as fintech and blockchain.