Outstanding inventions in IT, sciences and technologies, medicine and environment were honoured at the Vietnamese Talent Awards 2018 which was held in Hanoi on November 20.

With the title The Power of Digital Technology, the Vietnamese Talent Awards 2018 have attracted more entries featuring Industry 4.0 which are expected to facilitate the development of the country's sciences and technology sector.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Editor-in-chief of Dan Tri/Dtinews, and head of the Vietnamese Talent Awards' organising board, Pham Huy Hoan, said that the Vietnamese Talent Awards was first held in 2005 to honour inventions in IT and then expanded to many other fields including health, sciences and technologies, environment, and talents promotion. 

"The value of prizes in this year’s awards was doubled with VND200 million (USD8,700) for first prize winners, VND100 million for second prizes and VND50 million for third prizes," he said. "For the past 13 years, the Vietnamese Talent Awards have become a launch pad for young people, start-up companies and groups," Editor-in-chief of Dan Tri/Dtinews, and head of the organising board, Pham Huy Hoan, said. "Monkey Junior, a children’s English teaching software which ranked among the top 18 at the Vietnamese Talents Awards, has won first prize for an education application at the Global Innovation through Science and Technology Tech-I competition held in Silicon Valley in 2016."

The first awards presented at the ceremony were prizes to promote talent proposed by the Vietnam Association for Promoting Education. The awards aimed to encourage self-learning individuals who have overcome difficulties to contribute to their community.

Truong Quoc Cuong, Deputy Minister of Health announced six winning projects. Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Huu Do, ABBank deputy director Pham Thi Hien, and director of the northern branch of Eco Pharmacy Nguyen Huu Cuong, presented the prizes. 

Each prize is worth VND50m (USD2,150).

The six winning products included:

1. Grass cutter by Nguyen Nhu Linh from Thai Binh Province.

After realising that cutting grass by hand to feed the livestock is hard and ineffective, Nguyen Nhu Linh started researching and made the machine by himself. The cutter can quickly and easily cut grass and leaves. Linh made a vegetable cutter in 2007 and the grass cutter in 2015. The cutter has capacity to cut up to 4 tonnes of grass per hour at the cost of VND2.5m to VND4m.

2. Secondary air supply device by Nguyen Van Vinh from Long An Province.

The device boosts air while an internal combustion engine burns the mixture of fuel and air. It helps improve engine efficiency by 14% and saves fuel as well as increases the engine's life expectancy. Vinh researched the device for five years after realising that the engines of motorbikes and cars fail to completely burn all the provided fuel and cause air pollution.

3. Sowing robot by Pham Van Hat from Hai Duong Province.

The sowing robot can replace up to 40 farmers and is made by Pham Van Hat who learned through practice. Since 2012, he has made 30 different types of machinery, set up a workshop and created jobs for hundreds of people. His products have been exported to 14 countries.

4. Pipeless pump by Do Van Truong from Ninh Binh Province.

The pipeless pump needs is placed directly in an irrigation ditch. According to Truong, the new pump is 3.5 times more productive and a quarter cheaper than regular pumps.

5. TK90 stove by Le Hong from Phu Tho Province.

The stove uses wood and coal and uses less burning materials, emitting fewer gases and smoke. Hong's workshop can produce up to 6,000 stoves per year and has contracts with many non-governmental organisations.

6. Publishing project by Nguyen Bich Lan from Thai Binh Province.

Nguyen Bich Lan was born in 1976 and diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of 13. She was bed-bound but learned English on her own. She provides free classes for 200 pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and is now a well-known translator with over 30 titles under her belt.

With the title The Power of Digital Technology, the Information and Technology (IT) field this year attracted 318 entries for three categories including Applied Products for Mobile Devices, Start-up IT Products and Promising Digital Products.

Consolation prizes in IT:

Editor-in-chief of Dan Tri/Dtinews, and head of the Vietnamese Talent Awards' organising board, Pham Huy Hoan, announced seven winners. 

 

1. VNPT Pay - cashless payment devices - by VNPT Media Corporation. 

2. VNPOST-PA Public Administration solution by Vietnam Post Corporation. 

3. Water drainage monitoring centre by Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage Company. 

4. FVET Vietnam - mobile app for farmers and veterinarians - by TNHH FVET Vietnam Company. 

5. Robot Captain-Eye anti-myopia device by Virobo Company. 

6. iNut SmartCity by INUT Company. 

7. Nextfarm farming network by HOSCO Company.

Third prizes in IT:

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung announced five winners.

Vice chairman of Vietnam Study Promotion Association Pham Tat Dong, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Thi Phuong, and Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung presented third prizes in IT. 

 

 1. Novaon Auto Ads Internet by Novaon Group helps firms reduce the time devoted to online promotion campaigns.

2. Emddi Ride hailing app by Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

3. Fast Go Vietnam ride hailing app by Fast Go Vietnam Company.

4. VNPT SmartCloud/ VNPT SmartCloud EcoSystem by VNPT (VNPT-IT).

5. Development toy set for children’s Magic Book by Minh Viet Service and Communication Corporation.

Second prizes in IT
Politburo member and Head of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee's Information and Education Commission Vo Van Thuong announced that the second IT prize went to Vbee - Vietnamese Text to Speech and Stringee – Communication APIs for voice, video and SMS.

Vbee created by Vbee Joint Stock Company is the first service in Vietnam using artificial intelligence to turn Vietnamese text into human-sounding speech.

Stringee by Stringee Joint Stock Company helps developers and businesses quickly add SMS, video, or voice calling to apps and websites without having to build or maintain the back-end infrastructure.

Chairman of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group Tran Manh Hung, and Head of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee's Information and Education Commission Vo Van Thuong presented the prizes.

According to the orgasier, no first prizes were granted in the IT area as no products were considered worthy.

In Environment field, the first prize award this year was presented to the Toxic Waste Incinerator and Solutions for Designing Green Works in Vietnam by Prof. Dr Pham Ngoc Dang from the Centre for Environmental Engineering of Towns and Industrial Area. 

 In science and technology field, the Vietnam Fund for Supporting Technological Creations introduced the works of several senior scientists to Vietnamese Talents Awards 2018.