The Vietnamese Talent Awards, initiated by the Vietnam Study Encouragement Association and co-organised by Dan Tri e-newspaper, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and Vietnam Television, is in its 11th version. Initially held for the IT sector, the award has been expanded to include natural sciences, medicine, and environmental protection, honouring products of creativity, innovation and highly practical applications.

This year the IT sector continues to maintain its international stature since the very first years of the award’s inception, with nearly 300 candidates from both domestic and foreign countries submitting 210 products to the organising board.

The IT sector will offer one first prize of VND100 million, a second prize of VND50 million and a third prize of VND30 million to the winning products in three categories including ‘successfully applied’, ‘great potential for application’ and ‘applied products on mobile devices’.

The NAVISTAR application – a GPS/GNSS positioning solution with high precision positioning and enhanced satellite navigation safety/security by the International Collaboration Centre for Research and Development on Satellite Navigation Technology in South East Asia (NAVIS) under the Hanoi University of Science and Technology – won the first prize in the ‘great potential for application’ category.

NAVIS offers a comprehensive solution that includes hardware, software, and service providing network, combining two key functions of precisely positioning and improving safety and reliability/security of GPS/GNSS satellite positioning. The solution enables users to take advantage of the practical benefits of GPS or GNSS satellite navigation in various areas, serving multiple industries as well as people's lives.

Among 18 products selected for the final round in the IT sector, three products were granted second prize and six others won third prize.

In recognition of the quality of products as well as the persistent efforts and commitment by authors of the Vietnamese Talent Awards for 11 years, this year the organisers decided to add a special award ‘impression’ to the main prizes of the IT sector.

For natural sciences, the only VND100 million award was presented to a project seeking scientific and technological applications in military shipbuilding by Ba Son Co., staff under the General Department of Military Industries and Manufacture.

The lone VND100 million prize in medicine went to a research project on high-tech applications in the surgical treatment of spinal disc herniation by Dr. Nguyen Van Thach, Head of the Orthopaedic-Trauma Department under the Hanoi-based Vietnam-Germany Hospital.

The organisers selected two projects to grant the second and third prize in environmental protection. The third prize worth VND30 million went to Nguyen Thanh Cong and Thao Nguyen Construction and Environment Co., Ltd., in Ngo Dong town, Giao Thuy district, Nam Dinh province for the project on handling garbage and turning organic waste into fertiliser for agricultural development in Ngo Dong township.

Nguyen Quang Toan, Nguyen Huu Viet, and Vu Ke Chuong along with Lilama 692 JSC, the Party Committee and People’s Committee of Phuc Le commune, Thuy Nguyen district, Hai Phong city, and the Non Nuoc Viet Tourism Company shared the second prize worth VND50 million in the sector with the work on treating garbage and transforming organic waste into fertiliser for agricultural development in Phuc Le commune.

In addition, this year's Encouragement Awards were given to Dinh Cong Vien (Kim Bang district, Ha Nam province) for a grinder for finished agricultural products, Nguyen Hoang Nam (Duyen Hai districts of Tra Vinh province) for a clean-hand robot invention, and Bui Huu Nghia (Thu Thua District, Long An province) for his jute harvester and straw fertilising machine.