Vietnam Proposes Easing Market Access for Foreign Investors
The Ministry of Finance has submitted to the National Assembly Standing Committee a draft law amending and supplementing several articles of the Law on Investment, one of whose three key provisions would ease market access conditions for foreign investors. The draft goes before the National Assembly at its upcoming session, expected in October 2026.
The draft would amend Article 8 of the 2025 Law on Investment and add four forms of state support, covering supply chain development, manufacturing, technology products and initial investment. The Ministry of Finance highlights the role of the green and digital economies; links between businesses and training institutions and science and technology organizations; and support for converting and developing eco-industrial parks.
A second change concerns how incentives are granted. Instead of front-loaded incentives such as tax breaks or land rent reductions awarded the moment a project is licensed, regulators propose awarding incentives on the basis of the results an investor has committed to delivering, with part or all of those incentives recoverable should the commitments go unmet.
Alongside this comes a set of assessment criteria to be applied across a project’s entire life cycle, taking quality, the degree of technology transfer, the capacity to join supply chains and the added value created as the main yardsticks, in place of the project counts and registered capital used previously.
In the National Assembly’s resolution, the Committee for Economic and Financial Affairs recommended that any easing follow an appropriate roadmap and rest on a full impact assessment in sectors subject to market access restrictions — the list of fields foreign investors may not yet enter, or may enter only once specific conditions are met — particularly those sensitive to national defense and security.
Vietnam Ranks 43rd in the World for Innovation
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has released the 2026 Global Innovation Index (GII) in Geneva, placing Vietnam 43rd out of 139 countries and economies, one place higher than in 2025. The gain came largely from the output sub-indices — patents, technology products and high-tech exports — which climbed two places to 35th.
Within this group, Vietnam leads the world both in high-tech exports and in creative goods exports as a share of total export turnover. It also ranks 3rd in high-tech imports as a share of the total, 5th in mobile app downloads and 6th in labor productivity growth. By contrast, Vietnam places only 54th on the input sub-indices, which cover institutions, human capital, research and infrastructure.
Vietnam now stands third in ASEAN, behind Singapore and Malaysia, and second among lower-middle-income economies, behind only India. Over the past decade its ranking has risen 16 places, from 59th in 2016 to 43rd.
Under the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation Development, Vietnam aims to enter the world’s top 40 economies by 2030, while Resolution 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo raises that target to the top 30 by 2045.
Nina Group Secures Funding From Beacon Fund
Nina Group has received an investment from Beacon Fund through the Australian government’s Innovation Window – Investing in Women program, though the size of the deal was not disclosed. Nina Group operates Nina Ecom Center (NEC), a network linking businesses with content creators and e-commerce platforms.
With the new capital, Nina Group will invest along three lines — physical facilities, data systems, and its network of businesses and content creators — targeting 10 Nina Ecom Center locations in operation by 2030.
At each location, NEC offers six groups of services: livestream selling, affiliate marketing, e-commerce storefront operations, short-form video production, shoppable live events and creator training. A brand can therefore work with a single point of contact, from content production through to sales.
Nina Nguyễn founded Nina Group in 2022, starting out from a 50-square-meter studio. The company today runs more than 5,000 square meters of facilities with over 100 staff, has built a network of more than 10,000 content creators and works with over 300 brands and partners.
On the investor side, Beacon Fund is a private credit fund operating in Southeast Asia, focused on backing small and medium-sized enterprises that aim to generate positive social and environmental impact.
Only 6.3% of Vietnamese Firms Can Measure Financial Returns From AI
Roughly 75% of Vietnamese businesses have piloted or deployed AI to varying degrees, and more than 81% of them say the technology saves time and lifts productivity. The figures come from the CIO Vietnam Survey 2026, conducted by the CIO Vietnam community and EY Vietnam and released at the CIO Summit 2026 in Ho Chi Minh City on October 1.
Operational gains, however, have yet to translate into financial ones: only 6.3% of businesses can demonstrate that their AI investment has produced higher revenue, lower costs, improved margins or progress against other business targets.
The main reason lies in how shallow AI adoption remains. Half of the companies surveyed are still at the exploration or testing stage, 32.8% have put AI into operation, 10.9% have rolled it out across multiple departments and only 1.6% have integrated it deeply enough to measure economic returns. A representative of EY said AI outcomes depend on how closely the technology is tied to business goals and processes.
Financial returns may remain unclear, yet most companies still plan to spend more in the years ahead. The share of technology chiefs ranking agentic AI among their priorities is expected to rise from 30% in 2026 to 60.4% in 2027, while the share of companies prepared to devote more than 5% of revenue to information technology is forecast to grow from 22% in 2025 to 32.4% in 2027.
Ho Chi Minh City Partners With Plug and Play on an AI Center of Excellence
Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB), the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and Plug and Play Singapore signed a memorandum of understanding on September 30 to study and build an AI Center of Excellence (AI COE) in Ho Chi Minh City. The center will run on a three-way model linking government, universities and business.
The AI COE is expected to work across three areas. The first is building strategy, competency frameworks and AI training programs for students, lecturers, state administrators and corporate staff. The second is a growth support program for AI startups in the city’s priority sectors, running from selection and mentoring through to a Demo Day and introductions to domestic and foreign investors.
The third area centers on testing solutions in real conditions. The center will take specific problems from state agencies, businesses and industry associations, identify startups with suitable solutions and pilot them in live environments, with the results forming the basis for assessing whether a solution can be scaled and commercialized.
Genesia Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm operating in Japan and Southeast Asia, with a strong belief in the long-term potential of Vietnam’s digital economy. Beyond providing capital, the fund actively supports startups through strategic guidance and connections to a broader regional network.