SURF was first held in 2016 and has become an annual event gathering corporate executives, startup support organizations, venture capitalist funds, and local and foreign partners to Da Nang, to arouse interest and support for startups and innovation in the city. The theme for SURF 2023 is identified as “Han River Aspiration: Unleashing Creativity” with a focus on “Da Nang – A startups and innovation city”. The Festival runs from August 20 until December 30, 2023 with the opening ceremony taking place on September 29, 2023 in addition to three major conferences with national and international speakers: “Building Danang into a City of Innovation,” “Unlocking sources of capital for startups”, and “The international integration of the local startup and innovation ecosystem in the context of globalization”.
The opening ceremony of SURF 2023 attracts the participation of Vice Chairman of Da Nang People’s Committee Tran Chi Cuong and General Director of National Agency for Technology Enterpreneurship and Commercialization Development Pham Hong Quat; representatives of functional units, including Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Information and Communications, Departments of Science and Technology in Central region; Da Nang City’s departments and district-level people’s committees; universities and colleges, venture capitals, incubations; start-ups and innovation specialists and enterprises; domestic and international organizations such as Swiss EP, BK Holding, etc.
Vice Chairman of Da Nang People's Committee Tran Chi Cuong (Source: Da Nang News)
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of Da Nang People's Committee Tran Chi Cuong said: "Over the past years, Da Nang city has continuously strived to develop an innovation start-up ecosystem, with the formation of supporting organizations, incubators, venture capital funds, angel investors and especially the innovation start-up business community. The city has established an Innovation Start-up Support Center under the management of tDepartment of Science and Technology, and at the same time, has constructed policy and mechanisms to promote the development of the innovation start-up ecosystem such as: financial support, interest rate support, technological innovation support, intellectual property development... The city has focused on developing facilities for start-ups such as: arranging innovation space in Hi-tech Park, Software Park No. 2, the office of the Innovation Start-up Support Center and coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology to establish the National Startup Support Center in Da Nang. With those efforts, the city's startup ecosystem is increasingly developing, Da Nang was honored as the Attractive City for innovation and startups in 2020 and 2022. Through the Festival, Da Nang city wishes to continue promoting the connection between different elements in the innovation startup ecosystem, creating a strong link amongstartup ecosystems in the Central and Central Highlands provinces. The city is committed to accompanying enterprises, placing enterprises at the center of the entire innovation startup ecosystem for development."
General Director of National Agency for Technology Enterpreneurship and Commercialization Development Pham Hong Quat
On behalf of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Pham Hong Quat - General Director of National Agency for Technology Enterpreneurship and Commercialization Development highlighted that "Da Nang has an extremely important role and position in the economic development strategy of the regional and national economy. The Politburo issued Resolution No. 43 on building and developing Da Nang to 2030, with a vision to 2045 with the goal of "Building Da Nang into a major socio-economic hub of Viet Nam and Southeast Asia, a center of enterpreneurship, innovation, tourism, trade and finance, logistics, hi-tech industry, ICT, healthcare, education and training, science and technology. That is a valuable motivation for further development of the city’s innovation start-up ecosystem”.
Within the framework of SURF 2023, The Da Nang-Seoul innovation space was unveiled. The space is implemented by the Da Nang Department of Science and Technology and the Vietnam Innovation Network in the Republic of Korea (VINK). The Da Nang-Seoul innovation space is designed to bring Da Nang’s innovation startups to the RoK through training programmes by the Overall Assistance for Start-up Immigration System of the RoK Ministry of Justice and the Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs DCAMP.
In addition, the awards ceremony for the SURF Innovation Startup Competition was held on September 29, 2023. The first prize went to Wetex, a global fashion supply chain management platform, developed by the Tex Technology JSC. Meanwhile, the ‘Firewall-V Pro device’ project, developed by the Acronics Solutions Company Limited, took the second prize. ‘Beekids’, a technology solution that helps preschools manage and teach children in the classroom through an intuitive interaction; ‘FiveSS’, an e-commerce platform specialising in the field of construction and home care services, saving time and costs; and ‘Forest Foods’ - Organic Natural Sugar - shared the third prizes.
(IPA Da Nang)
