Hanoi (VNA) – Winners of the firstround of the Innovation Partnership Grants, part of the Aus4Innovationprogramme, were honoured at an event held by the Embassy of Australia and theMinistry of Science and Technology in Hanoi on October 9.

The programme aims to help strengthen Vietnam’sinnovation system and prepare for the country’s economic and digital future.

This time, the three award-winning projectsinclude one on water treatment technology and monitoring systems; another onhormone production technology which helps raise sea cucumber farming’sproductivity; and the rest on breast cancer diagnosis.

They will receive grants totalling morethan 1.6 million AUD (1.08 million USD).

A seminar on experiences in innovationsystem development of Vietnam and Australia was held on the day as part of theSkills and Innovation Week. It looked to address challenges in the setup ofinnovation system, considered the key to Vietnam’s sustainable development.

At the event, Deputy Minister of Scienceand Technology Bui The Duy spoke highly of Australia’s support for Vietnam inthe development of innovation system, particularly in cooperation between thetwo countries’ businesses, institutions and universities towards the digitaleconomy development.

Chargé d'affaires at the Australian EmbassyRebecca Bryant said building strong and lasting connections in the two nations’innovation system is among main targets of the Australia-Vietnam strategicpartnership.

The Innovation Partnership Grant is animportant part of the 11 million AUD Aus4Innovation programme being carried outin four year (2018-2020). It is co-funded by the Australian Department ofForeign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and InnovationXchange (IXC), managed by theAustralian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation(CSIRO), and in strategic collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology(MoST) of Vietnam.

The second round of the programme with acombined amount of 2.4 million AUD is set to be launched later this year./.