Vietnam aims to be a developing country by 2030, with modern industry and upper-middle incomes, and by 2045 it is to become a developed and high-income country. It is therefore important to promote startups, including innovative startups, to boost productivity growth. Vietnam’s startup ecosystem has recently improved in scores and rankings, but besides the opportunities, the activities of innovative startups also encounter many institutional barriers, slow policy implementation, and limited resources to conduct such activities. This requires solutions to create motivation for innovative startups to develop sustainably.