The Vietnam Innovation Day final was officially launched in Hanoi on June 16 with food safety as its theme.
The annual event is co-organised by the World Bank, the Vietnam Food Safety Administration, and the Ho Chi Minh City Tuoi Tre newspaper.
Launched in April, it attracted 231 submissions with 36 outstanding entries selected to enter the final round.
With this year’s submissions focusing on food safety, there was a range of proposals including best practices to improve food safety, new technology to ensure safer products and better food safety management.
Some practical proposals included the Hanoi chemical association’s “Food poisoning prevention methods at refectories in industrial zones” and the “My Ha Noi” group’s “Youth actions to change the habit of leaving litter at public areas”.
According to the organising committee, 24 winning proposals will receive awards worth 15,000 USD each. Among them 16 awards are from the World Bank and the other 8 awards are from the Australian, Canadian, Danish and New Zealander embassies in Vietnam and the Viettel corporation.
The awards ceremony will be held on June 17.
The Innovation Day programme, launched in 2003, is seen as a “mini marketplace” for innovative ideas that address local development challenges.
It aims to identify and directly support innovative development ideas that deliver results and which can be expanded or replicated.
Organisers say it also creates opportunities for local innovators to meet, exchange ideas and information, and establish network with others who share the same concerns and interests.
Around 1.6 million USD in grant has so far been awarded to 180 diverse and innovative projects which were chosen from the annual Innovation Day programme.
Source: VNA