The National Startup Day for students for the 8th time – 2026" (SV_STARTUP – 8th time) takes place in 3 days (April 17, 18, 19) at the Banking Academy.
Education must create value for the economy
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the festival on the morning of April 18, Minister of Education and Training (MOET) Hoang Minh Son said that our country is entering a new stage of development with increasingly high requirements for growth quality, labor productivity, national competitiveness and rapid sustainable adaptability to the world.
In that context, he believes that the difference between countries no longer lies in natural resources or labor costs, but in the ability to create new knowledge and transform that knowledge into economic value. This requires strategic changes in the field of education and training.
Education and training is no longer simply a social welfare service where the state invests to improve people's knowledge and train human resources, but must be a system that creates direct added value for the economy.
This poses an urgent requirement for education and training to innovate more strongly not only in content and methods but more deeply in human development thinking, from knowledge approach to knowledge creation, from approach to creativity, from adaptation to leading change" - the Minister emphasized.
Schools must be a launchpad for startups for students
In that process, the Minister affirmed that entrepreneurship and innovation in schools are not simply a supplementary activity but a modern educational method that helps learners form developmental capacity, the ability to discover problems from practice.
Start-ups in education aim not only to create new businesses but more importantly to create new people, new generations of citizens with the ability to act and the aspiration to contribute to the development of the country.
Minister Hoang Minh Son expressed his wish that each activity within the framework of the festival should not only stop at presenting ideas but must be clearer about the issues to be solved, deeper about market needs, more complete in products and more feasible in implementation models.
The most important thing is not the number of awards but the maturity of the project and the ability to continue to develop after the festival" - the Minister said.
The head of the education sector also emphasized the view that promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship is not about organizing a few more contests but about restructuring the philosophy of education and training; shifting from education management thinking, administrative training management to innovation ecosystem management.
Schools must be a foundation that closely connects schools, businesses, and the state. Higher education institutions and vocational education must be central links, which are strategic layers where knowledge is created, experimented and commercialized right within the system.
Each teacher is not only a knowledge transmitter but must be the factors that change the measure of success.
The success of a university or college is not only the percentage of students who have jobs in their field, but how many students are capable of becoming job creators, individuals who can create new values and opportunities for others" - he said.
He encouraged students to change their self-positioning, not just study to get a degree to find a job, but study to have the ability to be a leader, the ability to identify opportunities and the bravery to start a business.
Don't be afraid of failure. In startups, failure is not the end but a mandatory module of success. What is more important than today's award is innovative thinking, the ability to solve complex problems and the aspiration to contribute that you have accumulated through this journey" - the Minister advised.
To deepen and spread the spirit of entrepreneurship, the Minister committed to continuing to improve institutions to create the most favorable legal corridor for schools to become true innovation centers.
He also expressed his wish that businesses and investors continue to trust and order and accompany student projects, leaders of ministries, branches, and localities to create an environment and support policies for schools, students, and teachers.
