The National Innovation Centre (NIC) currently has two headquarters in Hanoi, in Cau Giay district and in Hoa Lac High-Tech Park, so is set not just be a large facility in Vietnam but for the entire region.

Do Tien Thinh, Deputy director National Innovation Centre

The NIC Hoa Lac aims to gather talent and connect startup centres, universities, and research institutes to become an innovation network, with large resources for the process of changing Vietnam’s economic growth model. After four years, the centre has carried out numerous programmes to support and promote innovative businesses, especially in the industries that Vietnam has comparative advantages.

NIC businesses will operate in the local market and easily reach out to the global market. The centre has some programmes to support startups for this goal, from small assistance like offices, consultants, and incubation to larger general advice and major connections.

Different from local incubation programmes, the NIC has to implement the major directions of the Party and state. For example, the centre is proposing solutions to change the economic growth model to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and other senior leaders.

Of this, the NIC is participating in connection and research into the very new field of semiconductors. The cooperation in the semiconductor industry that took place during the recent visit to Vietnam by US President Joe Biden, and the visit of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and leaders of numerous ministries to the United States a few weeks ago are the results of previous working and negotiation processes.

Vietnamese authorities are teaming up with American businesses and universities to create a leap forward in semiconductor manufacturing in Vietnam. Of these, Synopsys, a Californian semiconductor design software and security group, will provide training licences which include curriculum, educational resources, and other initiatives to help the NIC set up its chip design incubation centre.

The National Innovation Centre (NIC)

Electronic systems design group Cadence will offer access to its tools to academic institutes selected by the NIC, providing students with an opportunity to gain real-world experience creating integrated circuit (IC) designs.

Cadence will also introduce internship and job opportunities to Vietnamese engineers trained at the NIC and introduce the NIC to governments, organisations, businesses, and corporations in the semiconductor industry in the US and around the world.

Arizona State University and the NIC will work with public and private Vietnamese academic institutions and others to develop training programmes, research exchanges related to semiconductors and related fields to develop the Vietnamese semiconductor ecosystem and deeply participate in the global semiconductor supply chain.

The NIC is now establishing the infrastructure for the IC design incubation centre at Hoa Lac High-Tech Park, where academic institutes selected by the NIC can leverage Cadence’s portfolio of industry-leading technology to create a wide variety of designs, including in 5G, AI, and 3D-IC packaging.

All this reflects the determination of the NIC, and Vietnam in general. Without mastering semiconductors, we will always be on the sidelines of core technology. This is the mission and opportunity of NIC because the trend of the semiconductor value chain is shifting to Southeast Asian countries, in which Vietnam has great advantages.

Foreign investors are hugely interested in Vietnam’s human resources. In semiconductors, the most important issue is human resources, not equipment. In the semiconductor value chain, Vietnam is especially advantageous in design, which generates the largest profit in the semiconductor industry, while the profit of the manufacturing segment accounts for about 7 per cent only.

Additionally, hydrogen energy will also be a focus of the NIC. We are considering, connecting, and introducing some technologies at the exhibition at the NIC Hoa Lac this month.

We will also organise numerous international conferences, and one of the first to be held is a forum on hydrogen energy. The NIC has already invited many large corporations worldwide. Local businesses can see and seize opportunities to access this field.

We are confident in operating the NIC because Vietnam is ranked in the top 50 countries with the best innovation environment. This is good because normally other indexes of the country are often at the average threshold, around the top 70. This also reflects the performance of the NIC at the national level, so it can advance faster than other private centres in the region. If the NIC receives more support from the state in terms of resources, especially for issues that Vietnamese businesses need such as laboratories and high-end equipment, research and trade will be more effectively promoted.