The Vietnam Innovation Day (VID) 2010, co-organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union - Central Committee, and the World Bank, is an opportunity for innovative ideas that address local development challenge, according to the World Bank in Vietnam.

The theme for the program is “Climate Change” (CC). It identifies, shares, exchanges and directly supports small, bottom-up, innovative development proposals that deliver results, which can then be expanded or replicated.

The Program includes these major components: (1) Innovation Competition - an open competition, jury-mediated process whereby start-up funds are awarded to organizations proposing the most innovative ideas that will contribute to mitigate and adapt to Climate Change. (2) Knowledge Exchange – is a forum for knowledge sharing and open discussion on the subject of CC response in Vietnam, that aims to strengthen legal and policy framework to facilitate responsive actions as well as encouraging the participation of different actors, especially the private sector and grassroots level in taking initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases and to be more resilient to CC effects.

Addressing the launching ceremony, WB Acting Country Director Alain Barbu said that together with other partners, the bank would continue to increase support for Vietnam to help the country improve forecast capacity and increase research on measures to address the climate change issues.

Responding to Climate Change has been identified as a key challenge to Vietnam’s development progress. The impacts of Climate Change to Vietnam are serious, and are an imminent threat to poverty reduction as well as the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals. Water resources, agriculture and food security, health issues, and the low lying deltas and coastal areas of Vietnam are most vulnerable to climate change.

Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has publicized the Scenarios for Climate Change and Sea Level Rise for Vietnam, specifying the three climate change scenarios for Vietnam until 2100. The scenarios are expected to serve as guidelines for ministries, agencies and local authorities to design plans to cope with the potential impacts of climate change.

The program’s co-sponsors to date are the Royal Embassy of Denmark, Department for International Development (UK), the Embassy of Finland, and the United States Agency for International Development.

Since inception in 2003, the VID has become an annual event. It has so far granted around 2 million USD to more than 200 innovative projects of different areas, including traffic safety, food safety, HIV/AIDS prevention and control, and fight against corruption.

(Source: Dantri)