Hanoi (VNA) – The 17th Vietnamese Talent Awards were presented in the presence of Prime Minister PhamMinh Chinh at a ceremony in Hanoi on December 20.

So far, the awards, launched by theVietnam Association for Promoting Education (VAPE) in 2005, have attracted morethan 7,500 authors and scientists with over 3,600 entries. Among them, 210 informationtechnology products and scientific works have been honoured, including 50applied and implemented in regional and international markets.

Thisyear, organisers presented one first, two second, three thirdprizes, and three consolation prizes in the field of digital technology; oneprize in the field of science - technology; four prizes to four groups ofauthors in medicine - pharmacy; two prizes to two groups of authors in agricultureand rural development; and five prizes to five individuals in the field of self-learning.

Addressingthe event, PM Chinh said the Vietnamese Talent Awards have become a prestigiousprogramme that has effectively connected research and innovation events and appliedresearch results to life. The awards have helped affirm the Vietnamese wisdom,products, brands, and potential in the region and the world.

He congratulated the winners andcommended efforts by VAPE, organisations, and sponsors for maintaining the awardsover the past year, which he said has considerably contributed to educationpromotion, talent encouragement, and common national achievements.

Amida fast changing world, the globalisation trend, and intensive internationalintegration, especially the Fourth Industrial Revolution strongly affecting everyaspect in society, each country, business, and person need to unceasinglylearn, do research, make innovation, and apply science - technology to createnew values matching the development process. During this process, people is thecentre, key stakeholder, main resource, and target of development, he noted.

The Government leader requestedministries, sectors, and localities develop an open educational system thatensures equal learning opportunities and social equality in learning conditionsfor all people while stepping up the “learning family”, “learning clan”, and “learningcommunity” movement to develop “learning citizens”.

With hundreds of thousands of peoplebecoming learning citizens each year, the country will have a big treasure oftalents and an abundant resource of wisdom to build an increasingly high-qualityworkforce, he went on.

ThePM also asked the organisers to consider supplementing other suitable scientificfields to the awards such as the science of education.

Heexpressed his belief that the honourees will keep nurturing their dreams andambitions and exert tireless efforts to surmount challenges to create many newideas and scientific products in order to contribute more to the community,society, and sustainable development of the country./.