Ho Chi Minh City, 23 May 2025: After the success of its inaugural edition, ERIA’s One ASEAN Startup Award has officially returned this year, with the first pre-event held today at the Sheraton Saigon Grand Opera Hotel.

The event, attended by around 138 entrepreneurs, startup ecosystem players, policymakers, and academics, recognised outstanding startups across ASEAN, with a special focus on advancing AI technologies and supporting the region’s climate goals. For this pre-event, ERIA partnered with JETRO and the Vietnam National Innovation Center (NIC) as co-organisers.

Hiroshi Ishikawa, Special Advisor to the ERIA President on Digital Innovation, delivered welcome remarks, introducing the award as an initiative organised by ERIA’s Digital Innovation and Sustainable Economy Centre (E-DISC). E-DISC promotes collaboration, knowledge sharing, and transformative initiatives that harness digital technologies to drive sustainable economic growth, social development, and environmental stewardship across ASEAN and East Asia.

‘The One ASEAN Startup Award highlights the incredible potential of Southeast Asia’s entrepreneurs to drive digital innovation and sustainable solutions. As AI and greentech technologies reshape our future, platforms like this are essential to empower startups and nurture the next generation of innovators who will lead ASEAN’s journey toward a greener, smarter, and more resilient future,’ Ishikawa said.

A total of 84 startups applied for this pre-event. Along with a panel of judges comprising experts and academics, selected five finalists in the AI Category and five finalists in the Zero Emission Category, who then pitched their innovative business ideas to a panel of judges comprising experts and policymakers from across ASEAN’s startup ecosystem.

Following a highly competitive pitch session, ERIA is proud to announce the winners, each receiving a US$10,000 research fund:

• Pixel ML (Viet Nam): Winner of the AI category. The startup leverages agentic AI workflows for sales and marketing.
• Veritas Vietnam (Viet Nam): Winner of the Zero Emission category. The startup develops bio-based plastic and biopolymer material.

Hiroshi Ishikawa, who presented the awards, congratulated the winners and expressed hope that they will not only contribute actively as ERIA research partners but also catalyse innovation and positive change within their communities.

Both winning startups will advance to the final round of the One ASEAN Startup Award 2025, to be held in Malaysia later this year, where they will compete against winners from upcoming pre-events in Thailand (August) and Malaysia (October).

In addition to the pitch competition, the Viet Nam pre-event also facilitated business matchmaking and included a panel discussion on AI and Zero Emission solutions.

ERIA will start accepting applications for the Thailand pre-event soon. Companies focusing on AI and zero-emission solutions are highly encouraged to apply.