President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Prof. Nguyen Thien Nhan speaks at the Vietnamese Talent Awards ceremony in Hanoi on November 19.

Nhan said it was vital to encourage and support inventors as part of the country’s development when speaking at the Vietnamese Talent Awards ceremony in Hanoi on November 19.

"In 2005, when our country was still poor with per capita income of just USD700, the Vietnamese Talent Awards were initiated by Dantri/DTiNews online newspaper and organised by the Vietnam Study Promotion Association, which honoured inventions in IT," Nhan recalled.

12 years has passed, Vietnam is now not a poor country with per capita income reaching USD 2,200. We thank society and the government and the great inventions and effortless work of tens of millions of Vietnamese people, he noted.

The former minister of Education and Training stressed that young inventors and the start-up community will play an important role in the development of Vietnam in the next 20 years.

"We have one million young people joining the workforce every year and half of them are university graduates," he said. "Let's provide them the best encouragement and support so that we can have three million businesses in the next 20 years."

He offered his congratulations to the Vietnamese Talent Awards and expressed hope that the awards will continue to support local young inventors in the years to come.