The workshop "The 4th Industrial Revolution- Opportunities for Startup?" has been held at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology as one of the activities of the Vietnam Talent Awards this year.

As a part of an exchange program with the start-up community, after Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City - the leading place in the country in terms of start-up trend was selected to be the next venue of the workshop: "The 4th Industrial Revolution - Opportunities for Startup?". The start-up models and start-up activities are taking place in various forms in Ho Chi Minh City, attracting the attention of many organizations and individuals. Most notably,  the participation of young people and students  have formed the start-up trend. With the help of the Saigon Hi-Tech Park Center, many start-up companies have been established. Many groups of students and businesses have grown and commercialized their products from “incubation” activities at Information Technology Park - Ho Chi Minh City National University, Saigon Hi-Tech Park Incubation Center…

The workshop is attended by Assoc. Prof., Dr. Duong Anh Duc, Director of Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City - Member of Judging Council in IT; Assoc. Prof, Dr. Mai Thanh Phong, Vice Rector of  Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology - Member of IT Examiner Board, the Vietnam Talent Awards; Member of the Board of VNPT Group, Mr. Do Vu Anh; Deputy General Director of VNPT-Media, Mr. Nguyen Van Tan - Deputy Director of the Organizing Committee of Vietnam Talent Awards 2017; Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Dan Tri Newspaper, Mr. Pham Tuan Anh - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Talents Award Committee. Especially, there is the presence of the two main speakers: Mr.Nguyen Huu Thai Hoa - Vice Chairman of VNPT Strategic Advisory Council and Mr. Pham Tran Anh, Deputy General Manager in charge of corporate customers and a strategic partner of Microsoft Vietnam.        

The Vice Rector of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications, and the two members of the Organizing Committee of the Vietnam Talents Award this year, including Deputy General Director of VNPT-Media and Deputy General Director of Dan Tri newspaper answered many questions from participants as well as young people sending online about issues in start-up, VNPT Group’s capital sponsor to start-ups as well as media support from VNPT-Media and Dan Tri newspaper …

In tens of sent questions, the question "Should I quit college to startup?" is one of the most concerned questions. Interested in this question, Mr. Phong said: “Many young people have asked me such questions. They said that  there are many people who did not have a college education, but started a successful business, even became billionaires around the world ... But I want to suggest you reflect on the number of people had gained success from dropping out to startup – not many. Learning brings life-long knowledge, so you can choose to study in the lecture hall or go straight to the real world to receive knowledge.”

Having the same view, Mr. Duong Anh Duc, Director of HCM City Department of Information and Communications (Former Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City National University) also said that we need to be very careful when choosing start-up type. “My point is that: You must not give up on start-up when you just failed once. You even have to fail so many times to reach success. Here we need to remove the mindset of doing startup to follow the trend, as that is very dangerous”, he emphasized.

For questions about the startups relating to VNPT, Mr. Do Vu Anh, member of VNPT’s Member Council as well as Mr. Nguyen Van Tan, Deputy General Director of VNPT-Media claimed that with extensive telecommunications and IT networks and services, with the expansion of cooperation with leading technology groups in the world in recent years, VNPT not only provides telecommunication and information technology services but also is implementing a series of smart urban projects for many provinces and cities across the country. Therefore, there will be a lot of areas for young start-up entrepreneurs to cooperate with VNPT to satisfy their ideas and wishes.

The two main speakers and the participants also shared a number of issues, including how to be successful in starting a business, how to start a business, what to look for when starting a business …, especially while facing the spreading trend of industrial revolution 4.0.

Ho Chi Minh City is one of the leading provinces in the country in term of start-up trend. This is also the place that provides numerous contestants to Vietnam Talent Awards. Many contestants had won the Awards, such as: "8-bit microprocessor chip of Vietnam Trade Center (SG8V1)" by the Center for Integrated Circuit Research and Education (ICDREC) -  Ho Chi Minh City National University, which won the 1st-prize of the 2014 Successful IT Products System Category;  Busmax - City Bus by Le Yen Thanh, Pham Viet Khoi, Nguyen Hai Dang, To Huu Quan, Pham Minh Thai, Pham Nguyen Son Tung and Tran Minh Triet, which won the 2nd-prize in 2015 Mobile Application Category,... For Vietnam Talent Awards 2017, the organizers expect that there will be many contestants from Ho Chi Minh City who will be honored at this award in 2017.

The workshop: "The 4th Industrial Revolution- Opportunities for Startup?" is one of the activities of the Vietnam Talents Awards 2017. VNPT Group is the co-organizer and main sponsor; VNPT-Media Corporation is the media sponsor for the Awards, which is considered to be one of the most prestigious and reputable awards of Vietnam in the field of information technology.

Previously, the workshop "Industrial Revolution 4.0 - Opportunities for Startup?" was held in Hanoi.