Vietnamese Talents Awards 2012 was officially launched by Pham Huy Hoan, Editor in Chief of Dantri/DTiNews and Head of the organising board.

Pham Huy Hoan, Editor in Chief of Dantri/DTiNews, and Head of the organising board speaks at the opening

The event, the 8th of its kind organised in Vietnam, attracted entries from three categories of information technology, applied sciences, and health.

For the IT sector, finalists will be divided into two groups: products that have already being successfully applied, and those with great potential for application, said Dr. Nguyen Long, General Secretary of the Vietnam Informatics Association, who was also Chairman of the panel of primary judges.

This year’s awards will include two special prizes in the IT category for products which help deal with pressing issues in the education, healthcare and transportation industries, as well as a Young Innovation Award for finalists under 20.

The applied science category has drawn innovative products from a wide range of areas, such as mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences, which have proven applications.

This year's event was organised with the sponsorship of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Health.

The main sponsor was Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), but there were a number of others, such as Vingroup, An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBank), Vina Megastar Group Joint Stock Company and Jetstar Pacific.

The organising board has been receiving entries since November 21, 2011, and will continue to do so until August 31, 2012.

The panel of judges will work from September 1, 2012 through November 19, 2012 to decide on the most outstanding entries that have been submitted.

The award ceremony will be held on November 20, 2012, and broadcast live on VTV at 20:00pm .

Sponsors help make the event possible

The organising board and the panel of judges at the press conference