News

Hanns Seidel Foundation Vietnam co-hosted two inspiring events with the Vietnamese German University VGU — “A University Campus as a Green Living Lab” and the “VGU Student Sustainability Contest 2025 – Final Pitch & Awards.” These sessions, part of the Fostering Green Science & Innovation 2025 conference celebrating 50 years of Vietnam–Germany relations, showcased how universities can become living labs for sustainability.

On 22 October 2025, a virtual masterclass on “Scaling Energy and Sustainable Start-ups: Entering the German Market” brought together start-ups, ecosystem supporters, and sustainability practitioners from Asia, Europe, and beyond. Co-organised by Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) Vietnam and the German Energy Agency (dena), the event was held within the framework of the TH!NK GLOBAL Sustainability Network under HSF’s Global Project on Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change (GMACC).

In the digital era, universities serve not only as centres of training but also as hubs of research, innovation, and knowledge transfer—intimately connected with businesses, local communities, and regional ecosystems. To enable Vietnamese universities to contribute more significantly to national progress in science, technology and innovation, the National Assembly of Vietnam discussed amendments to the Higher Education Law on 22 October 2025.

From October 16-18, 2025, the School of Political and Social Science (SPSS) at the University of Phayao and Hanns Seidel Foundation Thailand brought together twenty young leaders from across the country for the 11th Youth Camp: Glocalizing Democracy. The camp was held at the University of Phayao and Phayao Gateway Hotel in Phayao, Thailand.

In collaboration with the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Agriculture and Environment (ISPAE), Hanns Seidel Foundation Vietnam held a workshop to strengthen women’s roles in waste management— a key driver of the circular economy.

Hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups of the Republic of Korea and jointly organised by the Hanns Seidel Foundation Vietnam (HSF), the ASEM SMEs Eco-Innovation Center (ASEIC), Ecothon is an annual competition for promising sustainable business ideas and models in selected ASEAN countries, running since 2019. This year, following the success of programme in the Philippines and Lao PDR, Ecothon in Malaysia was held as the last competition of the Ecothon 2025 series.

A half-day Community-Based Dialogue (CBD) on Human Rights Legislation by Local Government Units was successfully conducted in the Province of Rizal, bringing together more than 55 participants composed of vice mayors, councilors, legal officers, municipal staff, and representatives from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region IV-A.

A one-day Community-Based Dialogue (CBD) on the Just Energy Transition (JET) was successfully held in Iloilo City on Oct. 2, 2025, bringing together representatives from government agencies, security sectors, local government units, civil society organizations, and academic and faith-based institutions. The activity was jointly organized by the Commission on Human Rights–Region VI (CHR-VI) and PROCESS Foundation–Panay, with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF).

The draft Law on E-commerce, submitted to Vietnam’s 15th National Assembly for the October 2025 session, aims to establish a clear, modern legal framework for online trade. Its objectives are to boost competitiveness, curb fraud, and streamline state management. In order to strengthen the capacity of the National Assembly by providing evidence, reference material and policy recommendations to support discussion of the draft Law on E-commerce, the Parliament Information Brief Vol. 3 (2025) has been published in October 2025.