Sustainable living space nurtures innovative ideas

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A sustainable living space at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology was opened on April 29, aiming to promote sustainable consumption practices in Vietnam.

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Sustainable Living Space at Ta Quang Buu Library – Hanoi University of Science and Technology

Tran Van Nhan, Director of the Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre (VNCPC), said that the space is showcasing samples of 2,000 sustainable products that have been developed by Vietnamese and Dutch experts in cooperation with 500 businesses from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

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Dr Tran Van Nhan, Director of VNCPC 

Businesses that want to expand their network and boost partnerships in the field can send their products to the space for display, he added.

The space will also offer a platform for people to practice sustainableconsumption under the GetGreen Vietnam project.

Doctor Marcel Crul from the Dutch Delft University of Technology (picture) said that the space will open up opportunities for experts and business people to share ideas, harbouring initiatives on sustainability and innovation.-VNA.

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Source: talkvietnam.com

Impression from The Hybrid Marketplace and Learning Platform “Incubation for Social Investment Readiness”

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On the 13th March, Green Credit Trust Fund (GCTF) participated the Hybrid Marketplace and Learning Platform event themed “Incubation for Social Investment Readiness” which was held by Spark, Adelphi and HATCH! Program in Hanoi.

Nearly 80 participants coming from 30 social enterprises (SEs) who is doing inclusive business, startup individuals have met and discussed with participated capacity development services providers and incubators on matching their needs with services offered on the development, scaling or startup process. “This is the first time I join a marketplace. The providers are all helpful, I have gained so much useful information and opportunities. We got a cooperation offer.” – an entrepreneur shared.

At the marketplace, many enterprises have found potential service providers who can give answer to their financial, strategic or legal concerns. This was also the great chance for service providers to promote their services to a wider range of customers, especially SEs. The discussion offered space for service providers to share their thoughts and observations of the market and how to create services for SEs and to make their services more transparent. “People come and discuss with us seriously. I can find the huge demand for incubation services from startup individuals and organizations.” – Le Viet Dat, HATCH! Program Manager said.

Participating in the marketplace, service providers like OCD, NHQuang & Associates who are currently targeting big enterprises, found ideas on how their services can be of value to SEs. From the experimenting marketplace model, the participants made suggestions to develop capacity development market, emphasizing connecting role of organizations like Spark.
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         Green Credit Trust Fund attended as the service providers of financial supports on SMEs technology innovation projects

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                      Connection activities between service providers and users at the Marketplace

In the afternoon, the Learning Platform “Incubation for Social Investment Readiness” which originally targeted service providers and business incubators has extended to welcome SEs after acknowledging great inquiry from that side.

Representative from Oxfam Novib has talked about conditions needed to receive investment from their social investment program and highlighted works to be done by SEs to facilitate investment.

Experiences from Adelphi’s capacity development program revealed that services quality evaluation and cooperation on meeting customers’ needs are keys to develop local service providers.

Representative from Uberis Capital, Mr. Cyrille Antignac also emphasized the role of business incubators as one of the vital factors influencing social investors’ decisions on entering certain market.

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Group discussion

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                     Mr. Mikael P. Henzler, Adelphi Managing Director presented at the Learning Platform

The discussion session has provided for service providers an insight in the development and future paths of this sector in Vietnam, as well as highlighted special features of service users being SEs instead of ordinary enterprises, advantages and challenges when doing business with them to propose appropriate action plan.

Mrs. Vu Thi Quynh Anh, Spark Executive Director shared: “This event is a real bridge bringing SEs and capacity development service providers closer and a platform where SEs in Vietnam learn from the experiences of investing funds and incubators to improve their investment readiness capacity. With the hope of making this event contribute positively to the development and flourish of SE community in Vietnam as well as incubation service providers for SEs, Spark will continue working with other organizations and initiatives to organize more marketplace and learning platform, conduct trainings and strive to develop this sector.”

Source Spark.com.vn

Some Switch-Asia project impact sheets

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The SWITCH-Asia programme is the single largest programme to support sustainable consumption and production in developing countries. The EU aims to see the benefits of this investment. Many SWITCH-Asia projects in cooperation with the Network Facility have documented their achievement in so-called impact sheets. If you want to know more about the impact a project is making please select a impact sheet below or visit the project pages via clicking on a country on the map on the right hand side.

More detailed information can be found at http://www.switch-asia.eu/switch-projects/project-impact.html

For small scale butchery

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In this case, the cold and vacuum packaging method would be very effective and could extend the meat shelf life to months not just 8 hours. Generally, USDA stated that the storage life of vacuum-packed beef is at least 10-12 weeks and that of lamb is 8-10 weeks or greater depending on the primal cut, processing conditions, packaging materials and maintenance of a low storage temperature. With storage temperatures below 0°C and use of packaging film with very low oxygen transmission rate, commercial storage life of beef is now frequently considerably in excess of 12 weeks.


In the next several months, we are going to introduce the affordable and reliable option to pack and store the meat. That would maintain and prolong the shelf life of the product. Hence, it would bring more profit to the company!
Tran Duy Long

EU supports funding of sustainable catfish supply chain in Vietnam

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 A new project to establishing a sustainable pangasius supply chain in Viet Nam (SUPA) has been launched by the Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (VNCPC) and the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

 The project is worth €2.4 million, of which the European Union finances €1.9 million under the EU SWITCH-Asia Programme. The project is implemented by VNCPC in partnership with VASEP, WWF-Vietnam and WWF- Austria, reports VASEP.

Speaking about the project, Ms Berenice Muraille, Development Counselor of the Delegation of the European Union to Viet Nam said: “The project intends to improve the competitiveness of Viet Nam’s Pangasius industry in the global market. Through this project, EU directly supports the entire Pangasius supply chain from hatcheries, feed producers and processers in Vietnam to traders and end-use customers, including those in the EU which is the largest market for Viet Nam’s pangasius export”.

The four year long project, running from 2013 to 2017, will focus on capacity building, promotion of responsible production to increase product quality, mitigation of environmental impacts and reduction on production costs by applying Resources Efficiency and Cleaner Production methodology, product innovation and market development and promotion.

The project also supports information exchange, techniques for households and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in applying the current sustainable standards as Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Global GAP, etc, towards sustainable production aimed to increase the competitiveness of the Pangasius sector in the world market.

“SUPA is one of the supporting projects for Viet Nam’s Pangasius sector, which not only approaches from supply chain viewpoint but also applies “PUSH” and “PULL” methods for activities such as sustainable production and market promotion. It also includes the application of research results into practice,” Dr Tran Van Nhan, Director of VNCPC, emphasised.

It is expected that by the completion of the project, at least 70 per cent of the targeted middle to large Pangasius producing and processing enterprises, together with 30 per cent of the feed producers and small independent production SMEs will be actively engaged in Resources Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RE-CP), and at least 50 per cent of targeted processing SMEs will be provided with sustainable products compliant with the ASC standard to EU and other markets.

TheFishSite News Desk (available at http://the fishsite.com)

Innovative methods, capacity for sustainable future in Vietnam

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On November 14th 2013 – at Press Club, SPIN project successfully organized the workshop “Product Innovation – Key to Sustainable Future” which welcomed nearly 100 participants and press agencies. The workshop brought up an overview of current situation, challenges and opportunities in product innovatiôn in Vietnam for enterprises and national policies. 

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The workshop was pleased to have enterprises representatives who have involved in SPIN project in the last 4 years, along with representatives from related authorities, NGOs active in in sustainable development and national reporters.

At the workshop, Dr. Marcel Cruel – TUDelft and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Bich Hoa – Vice-director of AIT-VN – reported the methodology, capacity of Vietnam enterprises in product innovation progress. Moreover, two representatives from two most successful co-operated enterprises with SPIN presented on their own stories regarding products innovation as well as awareness raising in this field. 

Specifically, it is labeled Hoa Ban+ of Thuan Hoa social protection center specializing in providing garment handcrafts bearing deep ethnic culture in each product as well as proving the existing contemporary, innovative products. The second is the Enterprise Manufacturing Corporation Investment Services Binh Dinh Import Export (PISICO) who has been raised awareness about the efficient use of resources and recycling material waste in the production process to make new, unique and innovative interior products, which has helped reduce emissions to the environment and material waste.

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Mr. Nguyen Hong Long – regional coordinator of SPIN project – presented with the specific results of SPIN after almost 4 years of operation – Green Street – located at 45 Bat Su, Hanoi. The project believes that Green Street is the truest testament to a sustainable future in Vietnam at the present time and in the future, when Vietnam businesses are to raise  their awareness and capacity together with support of government policies, the future of sustainability will beno longer unthinkable.

The workshop ended, the audience visited Green Street and I-Nature knowledge farm to feel and experience sustainable products of corporates in  Vietnam.

Available at http://scp.vn