On 06 August 2024, the project launched a call for applications for the two-track acceleration programme, for energy efficiency (EE) start-ups and youth groups with budding entrepreneurship ideas across three sectors: industry, buildings and transportation.

The AIS4EE’s Acceleration programme consists of two components: The first component is designed for start-ups (pre-seed to seed stage) with a minimum viable product* focused on energy efficiency solutions for the above-mentioned sectors in Vietnam. Eligible applicants are Vietnam-registered companies, Vietnam-registered companies planning to register abroad for international funding, and foreign companies registered overseas with plans to operate in Vietnam. This component will equip EE startups with the essential upgraded skills and knowledge, necessary for successfully entering Vietnam’s energy efficiency market, and will aim to support them in attracting investment to expand their services. The second component is tailored for students aged 15 to 25, with innovative ideas in energy efficiency solutions with relevance to Vietnam’s context in the target sectors.

On 19 September 2024 in Da Nang City, the accelerator programme was unveiled at the “National Conference on Energy Saving and Efficiency 2024”, an annual conference hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT).

On the policy side, the project has wrapped up a comprehensive policy review, including desk review and through interviews with government agencies under the Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Science and Technology, among others, and provincial authorities in Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City, to identify the regulatory challenges and barriers for start-ups in the sector of energy efficiency. Based on these insights, the project will propose policy recommendations to address these challenges and incentivise the development and commercialisation of EE innovative start-ups in Viet Nam.

In our efforts to scale up the support to EE innovative start-ups in the long term, the project will soon undertake a series of initiatives. These include training of trainers (targeting entrepreneurship skills of businesses in the energy efficiency sector), enhancing the start-up ecosystem via building a network of stakeholders in energy efficiency, supporting early start-ups working in energy efficiency through the development of a guiding handbook, and contributing to raising public awareness around energy efficiency in Viet Nam at large.

*Note: An MVP, or minimum viable product, is a strategic approach used by startups and entrepreneurs to launch new products and services. It involves releasing an early, bare-bones version of a product with just enough core features to be usable and to gather feedback from real users. Source: https://b-works.io/en/insights/mvp-the-minimum-viable-product/