Ho Chi Minh City promotes innovation and startups in agriculture

On August 29, the Center for Consulting and Supporting Agricultural Economic Restructuring (under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade), in collaboration with Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry, organized the 2025 seminar “Innovation with Agriculture.”

The event was held within the framework of the project “Supporting Startups and Innovation in Agriculture for the 2025–2030 period” under Decision No. 3561/QD-UBND of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee. This is an important step toward building a sustainable agricultural startup ecosystem, aligned with the City’s economic development orientation in the new phase.

Ho Chi Minh City is now entering a strategic stage to maintain its role as the nation’s economic hub while reaching out to the regional level. In addition to its International Financial Center project, the City’s startup and innovation ecosystem is also climbing significantly in the rankings.

According to StartupBlink 2025, Ho Chi Minh City has, for the first time, entered the top startup ecosystems in Southeast Asia, ranking 110th globally—the highest position ever. Notably, the City ranks 2nd in Southeast Asia in Fintech and top 30 globally in Blockchain, affirming its potential to become the region’s digital financial technology hub.

In this context, agriculture has also been identified as a sector that cannot be left behind.

Mr. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, said the seminar was held as the City is moving toward the goal of becoming a “global mega-city.” This requires industries, including agriculture, to adopt breakthrough thinking and actions.

“The project to support startups and innovation in agriculture for the 2025–2030 period, when assigned to the Department of Industry and Trade, will have a new focus, concentrating on areas where the sector has strengths—particularly within the agricultural value chain,” said Mr. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong. He also noted that the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade has set four major priorities to transform Vietnamese agricultural products into high-value commodities.

These include prioritizing agro-processing, turning raw agricultural products into premium goods with outstanding added value; boosting trade promotion, expanding channels for Vietnamese products to conquer modern distribution systems at home and abroad; developing logistics and cold supply chains to minimize losses and preserve quality from farm to table; and especially, building strong brands, with each product carrying a story, pride, and the prestige of Vietnam.

Mr. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong expressed his confidence that, with the intelligence and aspirations of the business community along with the support of the entire political system, Ho Chi Minh City’s agricultural startup and innovation ecosystem will achieve breakthrough developments, contributing to realizing the City’s vision.

As part of the seminar, scientists, experts, investors, support funds, businesses, and domestic and international startups shared knowledge, experiences, and sought new solutions. This is expected to serve as an important bridge to promote products, expand cooperation opportunities, and at the same time create conditions for businesses to apply high technology and artificial intelligence to improve the quality of agricultural products.

On this occasion, the Center for Consulting and Supporting Agricultural Economic Restructuring (ACSC) signed a cooperation agreement with the Dutch organization (Vietnam SKU) and the Innovation Startup Investment Fund (ITI FUND).