held by the Vietnam Fund for Supporting Technological Creations (VIFOTEC) in Hanoi on October 21.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (ninth from left) presents first prizes for winners

Honouring outstanding projects in 2019 that have proven effective in practice, the awards included five first, eight second, eight third, and 19 consolation prizes. Fields involved covered mechanics-automation; material technology; IT-electronics-telecommunications; biology; technologies for climate change adaptation, environmental protection and the efficient use of natural resources; and those for energy savings and renewable energy usage.

Among the top five projects, one on cultivation technology for and the creation of valuable products from lemongrass, from Le Van Tri and his colleagues at the Phitohoocmon fertiliser JSC, received a certificate and a gold medal from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) last year.

Ten leaders and co-leaders of the first-prize winning projects were presented with certificates of merit by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

The annual VIFOTEC awards, first launched in 1995 by the Ministry of Science and Technology, VIFOTEC, and the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, aim to encourage scientists and businesses to come up with inventions that meet urgent demands in the market and boost the competitiveness of Made-in-Vietnam products./.VNA