VietNamNet Bridge - Twenty two project proposals have won prizes of the Vietnam Innovation Day 2008 with the theme on Food Safety.

The event is jointly organised by the World Bank in Vietnam, Vietnam Food Administration and Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

After two month since its launch, the organisers have received 231 ideas and selected 36 entries for the final round.

Speaking at the award presentation ceremony held in Hanoi this afternoon, Deputy Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang said that the competition help raise people’s awareness on food safety and that food safety would only be improved with the people’s response.

World Bank’s Acting Country Director Alain Barbu said that the competition receives wide public interests. “Each project proposal not only shows the creativity people at the grassroots level, but also reflects their responsibility toward settling a national issue.”

The projects focused on the four themes of the competition: education and awareness raising on food safety, application of good practices on food safety, new technology for food safety, and solutions for better management of food safety.

The winning proposals will receive seed money, maximum US $15,000, to impalement their project during a year. The total sum for this year’s awards amounts to over US$ 300,000.

The Vietnam Innovation Day is a program to seek and provide direct support to small initiatives at the grass roots level.

With the first Innovation Day conducted in 2003, the program has gone through 6 years, with many themes being of public interest, such as fighting HIV/AIDS, Environments, Traffic Safety, etc.

(Source: Nhan Dan)