Innovation for Low-Income People

Recently, the Women Entrepreneurs Council of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with the Management Board of Sub-projects of the Agency for Enterprises Development of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, have organised a workshop to introduce the project "Innovation for low- income people". This project is piloted by the World Bank in Vietnam with the aim of improving the quality of life for the poor and low-income groups, reducing wealth disparity and improving social competitiveness.

At the seminar, the representative of the Agency for Enterprises Development, Ministry of Planning and Investment said, under the current situation of the economy, many Vietnamese businesses are facing difficulties in accessing financial sources for business expansion and upgrading technology to increase productivity, improve quality and reduce production costs. The workshop will provide important information about the business opportunities to receive grants and concessional loans, to address business questions and give guidelines for registration procedures to participate in the programmes and initially recognize the potential sub-projects.

On behalf of the Board of Project Management, Mr Trieu Quang Khanh said, the "Innovation for low income people of Vietnam" project is granted by the World Bank, to support the Vietnamese Government with a total investment of US$55 million dollars during 5 years from 2013 to 2018. The main objective of the project is to support the research institutes and enterprises in completing, receiving, updating, developing, expanding and commercializing the innovative technologies to create products and services for low-income people and to improve their lives. This goal will be achieved by strengthening the capacity of Vietnam in implementing innovation, which aims to improve capacity in innovation and upgrade technology to enhance the competitiveness of the enterprises, research institutes, organizations and individuals with innovative ideas. 

 

Regarding the direct beneficiaries of the project, he highlighted that the research and development institutes (RDIs) will get involved in the areas of technological innovation; the innovators, functional agencies, research units and business community are responsible for making policies and researching new technologies for technological innovation.

 

The project will support some areas such as traditional medicine, IT and communications, and agriculture and fisheries.

 

Specifically, in the fields of traditional medicine, the project will focus on the technological impacts on improving product quality in the process of planting, tending, harvesting, processing, transporting, storage management, producing, circulating and using raw materials and herbal products (in the entire value chain of traditional medicine). In addition, there are other solutions to upgrade and modernize the existing technology and apply new technology in growing, mining, harvesting, processing, transporting, storing, producing, circulating and commercializing traditional medicine products based on the STCPP standards for the entire value chain of the traditional medicine.

 

In the field of IT and Communications, the project focuses on enhancing the availability, continuity and capacity to access information and provision of information content to serve the interests and needs of low-income people. Besides, the project support for designing and manufacturing products, equipment, adaptive communication technologies, which are universal and close to the benefits of the low-income groups.

In terms of the agriculture and fisheries, the project will focus on reducing post-harvest losses of agricultural products and fisheries, improving energy efficiency, saving energy, generating clean energy, protecting environment in the field of agriculture and fisheries, and particularly, improving quality and ensuring food safety for agricultural products and seafood. 

 

Also at the conference, the representatives of the Organization Committee said, to be selected to participate in the project, scientific researchers in the fields need meet the following criteria: technology is available in Vietnam, ready to use, potentially applicable and must reduce costs (the project does not finance the basic research activities); the technology is to meet the needs of low-income people: the technology solution is applicable at reasonable cost, the technologies are feasible and environmentally friendly; the implementation period: the technologies can be implemented after studies within 2-3 years and commercially available in Vietnam; in addition, the technologies must fit local conditions, have potential to compete internationally and prove its strong collaboration among researchers, entrepreneurs, foreign and domestic partners and other innovators.

 

Reportedly, the sub-projects will be selected through a transparent selection process by the Project Management Unit, the National Foundation for Science and Technology Development, VietcomBank, and VietinBank.

 

Business, scientists, organizations and individuals who want to register for innovative ideas in line with the objectives of the project could fill out the survey of innovative ideas and send to the Project Management Board for reporting. The board will contact the beneficiaries when the project is formally implemented.