Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Vingroup Innovation Foundation (VINIF) hasannounced 124 billion VND (5.32 million USD) in investment for 20 science andtechnology projects.

After sixmonths of announcing funding for science and technology oriented projects,VINIF has selected the top 20 projects from nearly 200 registration documents.

These areexcellent and ground-breaking projects, bringing practical benefits inimportant areas such as big data, biomedical science, genetics, materialsscience, smart traffic, IoT, image recognition and natural language processing.

Total fundingfor 20 projects is 124 billion VND, of which the highest level is 10 billionVND for one project. The funding is used to pay the salaries of projectmembers, local and international experts; purchase of raw materials, materialsand tools; purchase of equipment for research, international publications andpatent registration.

VINIFalso supports other projects by providing consultants, providing largedatabases and intellectual property from Vingroup.

Inparticular, in order to facilitate the output of research projects, VINIF willsupport the introduction and application of research products, services andsolutions into practice; help register and protect patents for inventions andutility solutions; seek investment once the project is finished to continue toimprove and develop products.

In August2019, projects will begin to receive funding for implementation, with the goalof achieving at least one of the following four requirements: there arearticles published in international journals or research organisationsprestigious rating Q1 or equivalent; products, services, solutions bringpractical benefits to the community; accepting an application for intellectualproperty registration; masters training and doctoral training support.

With theaim of encouraging the development of science and technology for Vietnam andthe principle of non-profit operation, assets procured and formed from projectssuch as products, solutions, services, intellectual property rights and otherproject results belong to the project manager, research team or hostorganisation.

This isVingroup's annual support programme, with flexible financial mechanisms,minimal administrative procedures and powerful resources to bring the bestworking conditions to scientists; at the same time, promoting research intopractical applications.

“We wishto contribute to supporting Vietnamese scientists to successfully implementexcellent and influential projects, with application orientation and modernapproaches and technologies,” VINIF director Vu Ha Van said.-VNS/VNA