The Swedish Embassy in Ha Noi and the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry have launched a national smart water innovation contest.
Sweden's Ambassador to Viet Nam Camilla Mellander gives an opening speech at the contest launching ceremony (Source: baotainguyenmoitruong.vn)
The competition is being held in response to pressing water-related challenges that Viet Nam is facing today and will face in the future.
The contest aims to inspire young, local students of higher educational institutions to take on sustainable development and climate change issues and develop innovative water-related solutions that will bring real change.
The contest is open to first-year to fifth-year university students across the nation. Contestants will need to form teams comprising two to four members and work together on the ideas and possible proposals. All team members must be Vietnamese nationals enrolled at a Vietnamese University and have good English language skills.
The contest hopes to generate ideas and possible products, services and solutions that contribute to sustainable use of water. The innovations may fall within fields such as reduction in the consumption of water, managing water pollution as a result of industrialisation and chemical usage, impact on water flows and storage due to the construction of hydropower plants, and acid rain caused by ashes from fossil fuel-dependent industries, besides combating increasing salinity and saline intrusion.
All entries must be in English, with a length of three to five written pages.
The entries should be emailed to ambassaden.hanoi@gov.se by April 17 this year.
Sweden's Ambassador to Viet Nam Camilla Mellander said she hoped to create dialogues between different countries to share experiences related to water access and protection.
The contest was a part of the efforts, she said.
She highly appreciated Viet Nam's contribution and impressive achievements in preparing strategies towards a greener planet, especially the country's participation in the 2015 COP21, also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference.
Nguyen Minh Khuyen, deputy director of the department of water resources, said Viet Nam faced several challenges related to water.
The challenges will become more serious as Viet Nam is said to be one of five countries that will be affected the most by climate change and rising sea water.
Finding solutions was an urgent need to meet the demand for water in the future, he said.
Anna Bratt, a representative of the jury, said by joining the contest, Vietnamese youth could compete in a healthy manner with their creative ideas and thus get real and professional experience in contributing towards making long-term changes for the community.