NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Becamex IDC Corporation to establish BLOCK71 in Vietnam to cultivate a vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country and beyond.
BLOCK71 forms part of a global network of innovation and entrepreneurial gateways to and from NUS, through providing programmes as a technology ecosystem builder and business connector with an objective to catalyse, aggregate and develop competencies of the startup community.
The joint initiative will support a two-way flow of talent, technologies and startups to promote innovation and entrepreneurship development in both countries. Vietnamese and Singaporean startups may use BLOCK71’s global network of resources and contacts to kickstart their entrepreneurial journey and gain access to international markets.
At the same time, the initiative will facilitate greater information exchange, connectivity and access to programmes between Singapore, Vietnam and the region.
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Vietnam is the third most-active startup ecosystem in ASEAN, behind Singapore and Indonesia, with a reported 6x increase in invested capital in technology deals in the last two years.
With a large consumer market, the ecosystem has experienced a growing openness to foreign investment and support from government agencies in entrepreneurship, well-matched with Vietnam’s young 96 million-strong tech-savvy population. BLOCK71’s expansion will aim to serve and grow this demand, and be an aggregator of cross-border support, funding and learning.
BLOCK71 in Vietnam is the latest extension of NUS’s global network of entrepreneurial gateways to overseas hubs. it already runs programmes in San Francisco, Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and two locations in Suzhou in China.
Becamex is Vietnam’s leading industrial infrastructure developer with an extensive network of integrated industrial parks & township across the country. In order to provide an integrated solution to investors, Becamex IDC has been gradually building a comprehensive ecosystem of the business portfolio around the core business of industrial parks & township, including transportation, logistics, telecommunication & ICT, healthcare, education, social housing, trading and services.
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