A ceremony to present the 2011 Vietnam Fund for Supporting Technological Creations (VIFOTEC) Awards, the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Awards and the Vietnam's Intellectual Gold Cup was jointly held by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations on May 15 in Hanoi.
Possessing 16 exclusive patents and more than 30 trademarks, Dr Le Van Tri, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of the Bio-technology Joint Stock Company was honored to receive the 2011 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Awards for the best enterprise in applying intellectual property rights to production and business operations.
Among the four first prizes of the 2011 VIFOTEC Awards, the best one was presented to the National Power Transmission Corporation for the research on ways of maintaining and preparing 500KV transformers.
11 enterprises were also presented with Vietnam's Intellectual Gold Cup, for applying intellectual property to their production and other WIPO's prizes, including the best author, best enterprise, best solution, best young investor and best female inventor were also announced.
Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations Dang Vu Minh said the Vietnam Scientific and Technological Creations Awards drew the participation of a large number of scientists working in research institutes, universities and enterprises, helping to show respects for their achievements. For the past 17 years, more than 500 award-winning projects and products have been applied to daily life and production and helped to boost the socioeconomic development of the country.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said that the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam has regarded education and Sci-Tech development as one of the three breakthrough steps to speed up our country's rapid and sustainable development in this decade. This year, many creative projects and works in all areas across the country have proved the contributions of individual authors and the Vietnamese Sci-Tech circles to the country's development. He also said that the scientists and their inventions, together with creative workers nationwide were those who made Vietnamese nation rise again after devastated wars to determine its current position on the world map with 25 consecutive years of economic growth and per capital income up to US$1,000 per year.
In 1997 when Vietnam started building its Information Technology program, it was unknown on the world IT map at the time. Today, however, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are most attractive destinations in IT and telecommunication industries globally from among 20 emerging countries. Especially, last year Vietnam could build a jack-up drilling rig on its own, which was a great achievement as it helped Vietnam become one of the top ten countries in the world to build jack-up drilling rigs up to international standard.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan stressed that Vietnam will surely further develop by producing creative inventions. Not long ago, ASEAN predicted that by the year 2045-2050, Vietnam population would reach 110 million and GDP of nearly US$1 trillion to become a developed industrial nation, thus enabling Vietnam to walk abreast with powerful nations worldwide as Uncle Ho's wishes when he was alive.
Dr Le Van Tri shared his opinions that scientists have to work and do researches unceasingly to make valuable contribution to science. Their works not only benefit and enrich themselves but also make our society wealthy as well. To achieve that goal, however, scientists need more help and encouragement from State relevant agencies, such as more open policies and deserving acknowledgements for their contributions to domestic science./.
