Call for solutions in transportation, aquaculture, fishing, energy, ocean health: Katapult Ocean, ocean technology seed fund and accelerator based in Oslo, Norway.

The start date of Katapult Ocean second batch is confirmed to be 18th November 2019 in Oslo, Norway, and the application deadline is August 31st, 2019.

Katapult Ocean offers:

1. A hands-on, 12-week accelerator program focused on; vision and strategy, sales and business development, ocean technology, sustainable business models, investor readiness and more.
2. Investment from USD 150.000.
3. Prestigious and engaged partner network; we are proud to have WWF as a founding partner, and we continue to build knowledge and test environment partnerships with leading industrial players in the ocean space.
4. 100+ world class and dedicated mentors and program contributors.
5. Access to the Katapult network and alumni of startups.
6. A life-changing experience in the ocean technology hub that is Norway!

Katapult Ocean's first batch in January 2019 invested in 11 ocean impact startups from seven countries globally.

At HATCH! we get unsolicited, inbound enquiries about investing in Vietnam on a daily basis, from as far away as London and as close as Singapore.  The most intense interest in the economy is coming from South Korea. 

HATCH! has investment referral understandings with international and local organizations such as JICA (Jeonnam Information and Culture Industry Promotion Agency); GCCEI (Gyeongbuk Center for Creative Economy & Innovation Center); Hangyang University; Foreign Trade University FIIS; and ExtraVallis, a new global emerging market investor/startup matching platform.

HATCH! and CSIP have collaborated on impact related projects serving Vietnam for the past 5 years, including those sponsored by United Nations organizations, KOICA (the Korean government equivalent of USAID), and the United States government. Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) is a US State Department sponsored program that is promoting innovation. HATCH! organized GIST Investors Vietnam in March 2019. HATCH! has also been named a GIST Innovation Hub for the execution of a bootcamp for deaf people to learn entrepreneurship.

Right now there is a surge in returning "Sea Turtles" a slang term for youth who studied overseas and are now returning to their home country for work. Many are starting companies, and among those many seek to make positive social, economic, or health impacts a part of how they measure the success of their business. They are joining Vietnam franchises or branches of programs like the 180 city US-headquartered global franchise Founder Institute, and the French innovation studio Schoolab, to rapidly hash-out ideas into scalable companies.

But it's not all golden eggs.

National founders who did not study in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, or EU for several years, may demonstrate comparatively less strength or "unpolished" levels of business soft skills, leadership experience, a critical thinking mind-set, collaboration habits, and/or logged time exercising being purely creative.

To overcome challenges, the Vietnam startup ecosystem is rapidly being joined on a regular basis by new incubators; and accelerators; training programs; and NGO and government programs and contests focused on developing entrepreneurship in Vietnam. International contest, AngelHack, sponsored in part by IBM, Vietnam Post, and Amazon Web Services, is happening now in Ho Chi Minh City as this article is being written.

The central government has mandated provinces and universities to embrace entrepreneurship and develop practical skill-building programs. Some provinces—outside early adopters Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang—are ambitiously getting started. For example, we spent all of Thursday, last week in Tra Vinh Province in the Mekong Delta talking to government officials at SME Tra Vinh project, observing a student startup pitching contest, and planning major event to promote entrepreneurship for the area's economic development.

Corporations are also being encouraged to embrace intra-preneurship, or startup-mentality to more rapidly evolve product lifecycle development processes and to externalize R&D functions by linking with the startup ecosystem or direct calls to participate in privately sponsored innovation challenges. A Malaysian-Swedish joint venture based in Singapore met with HATCH! two weeks ago, aiming to ask HATCH! to recruit teams to submit proposals for ideas to improve the maritime industry through technology.

So the key message for all of you: it is a great time to be alive and well connected in Vietnam! For more information on any of the mentioned programs or to express your interests or needs, please comment below or contact xinchao [at] hatch.vn.

Schoolab, an innovation studio, has built an ecosystem to design, then deliver innovations to market. They help people—from students to CEOs—to be innovative and entrepreneurial. In 2019 Schoolab kicked off its program in Ho Chi Minh City and Thursday 20th June was their very first "mentor night".

Ten companies in Schoolab's programme enjoyed founder / mentor speed-dating in their facility, Intek Institute. An overwhelming number of mentors turned up. Schoolab Co-founder, Julien Fayet also was in attendance.

In July, Schoolab will organize a major international innovation event in Hanoi....stay tuned!

All of this entrepreneurship ecosystem excellence reminds us of a saying we have in the United States: "be cool, stay in school!"

[REPOST]
Meet 5 startups taking their products to the regional stage! According to International Business Times, Vietnam is becoming one of the hottest startup hub not only in Asia, but also in the world!
 
2nd CrowdPitch Vietnam 2019

•  Date: 26th June 2019
• Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
• Venue: Kafnu Ho Chi Minh City - 2nd floor, 92A Nguyen Huu Canh, Ward 22, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City

Startups showcasing at 2nd CrowdPitch Vietnam 2019

1. Sociov - a knowledge-sharing app that reinvents inclusive access to knowledge-transfer services such as mentorship, coaching, and counseling for students and young professionals.
2. Tesse - a live education platform that gives people the ability to meet international teachers and friends from many locations by attending to Virtual Classroom by any devices from mobile phones to computers
3. A platform to connect the SME Vietnamese manufacturers to the SME customers all over the world
4. WeSport - a social sports platform that connects sports enthusiasts with each other and with sport facilities.
5. Xinh Tuoi Online -  marketplace platform for retail florists

More than 1,000 entrepreneurs and +550 companies from a huge variety of industries have taken The Leap, our incubation program. So any entrepreneur who wants to validate and launch their business project into the market is welcome to apply.

The project will get access to a digital platform filled with tools to develop its idea, work with 1-2 specialized mentors throughout the program, be part of our global community of professionals, have follow-up sessions and receive financial awards and exclusive opportunities from our network of partners.

The deadline for submitting your application is July 7th.

​[REPOST - ENGLISH FOLLOWS] UP xin trân trọng mời bạn đến tham dự Sự kiện: Digital Transformation Ecosystem - do UP cùng Đại sứ quán Ba Lan phối hợp tổ chức tại UP@VPBank, tầng 21 VPBank Tower 89 Láng Hạ vào ngày thứ 5, 20/6/2019 tới đây.
 
Ngày 20/5, UP hân hạnh được hợp tác với Đại Sứ Quan Ba Lan mời ngài Stanilko - Vụ trưởng vụ chính sách đổi mới và phát triển Ba Lan và ông Nguyễn Đức Thành - PGS.TS, Viện trưởng Viện Chính sách phát triển, tới để trao đổi và đối thoại về hệ thống chuyển đổi số và bức tranh đổi mới sáng tạo, khởi nghiệp tại Ba Lan và Việt Nam. 
 
Tại sự kiện, người tham dự sẽ được lắng nghe những kinh nghiệm và phân tích của các diễn giả về:
- Bức tranh khởi nghiệp và đổi mới sáng tạo tại Ba Lan,
- Quan điểm về chuyển đổi số trong nền Công nghiệp Việt Nam, 
- Cách các doanh nghiệp Việt "sống chung" với thời đại số,
- Các chính sách giúp đỡ doanh nghiệp Việt Nam trong nền kinh tế số.
 
Để đăng ký nhận thư mởi tham dự sự kiện, xin vui lòng truy cập:
Đăng ký tham dự sự kiện
Thông tin chi tiết sự kiện: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ECOSYSTEMS
- Thời gian: 9:00 - 11:00 Thứ 5 ngày 20/6/2019
- Địa điểm: UP@VPBank, tầng 21 tháp VPBank, 89 Láng Hạ, Đống Đa, Hà Nội.
 
Sự kiện sẽ sử dụng Tiếng Anh làm ngôn ngữ chính. Do sự kiện giới hạn về số lượng người tham dự, Ban tổ chức sẽ gửi lại thư mời xác nhận tham dự sự kiện cho các bạn đăng ký thành công.

​UP would like to invite you to attend the Event: Digital Transformation Ecosystem - organized by UP and the Polish Embassy at UP @ VPBank, 21st floor VPBank Tower 89 Lang Ha on Thursday, June 20, 2019 come here.
 
On May 20, UP was pleased to cooperate with the Embassy of Poland to invite Mr. Stanilko - Director of the Polish Department of Policy for Innovation and Development and Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh - Assoc. Prof. Dr. , to exchange and talk about the digital transformation system and the picture of innovation, startups in Poland and Vietnam.
 
At the event, attendees will listen to the speakers' experiences and analysis about:
- Creative start-up and innovation picture in Poland,
- The view of digital transformation in Vietnamese Industry,
- How Vietnamese enterprises "live together" with the digital age,
- Policies to help Vietnamese enterprises in the digital economy.
 
To register for the event, please visit:
Sign up for the event
Detailed event information: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ECOSYSTEMS
- Time: 9:00 - 11:00 Thursday 20/6/2019
- Location: UP @ VPBank, 21st floor of VPBank tower, 89 Lang Ha, Dong Da, Hanoi.
 
The event will use English as the primary language. Due to the limited number of attendees, the organizers will resend the invitation to attend the event for you to successfully register.

​Viettonkin Startup Launch 2019 is the first startup initiated and organized by Viettonkin JSC within
the chain of activities aiming at the incorporation 10th anniversary, together with Viettonkin Startup
Ecosystem together with the companions and coordinators. Viettelkin Startup Ecosystem (VSE)
mission is to develop the organization capacity and build SMEs / Startups community with support
organizations but not limited to government agencies, businesses, investment funds, consulting
companies, service providers, ... thereby setting up a strong business community in Vietnam.