Two guest speakers of the event are Associate Professor Ho Huu An from Faculty of Agronomy, Hanoi University of Agriculture with his research on “Growing vegetables without soil” and Mr. Vu Tu Nam, team leader of the project “Developing a model of raising earthworms (perionyx excavatus)”, which won the first prize at the E-Idea Contest 2011.

“Sustainable Agriculture” is attracting more and more public attention since food security and food safety are being raised as two critical issues for the development of any nation in the world. The matter is considered to be more urgent in Vietnam when fast urbanization is going hand in hand with serious soil degradation in our country. Thus, having a forum for people to raise awareness as well as share thoughts and opinions about this topic is essential. The Green Innovation Forum – Sustainable Agriculture has organized in order to provide a platform for people, especially youth to not only discuss the issue but also broaden their network with experts and interested persons in the field.

The forum was participated by a total of 60 people, including 38 audience, 8 journalists, 2 speakers and 12 volunteers; and previously attracted 103 registrations. Keynote speakers enthusiastically imparted their successful stories, knowledge and experience to the audiences, followed by Q&A sessions, providing the participants the opportunities to clear up queries and learnt more about the speakers’ solutions.

Please click here to see more photos of the event.

Honoured guest speakers invited to the event are Associate Professor. Dr Tạ Cao Minh, Vice Chair of Faculty of Science and Technology; Director of Center for Applied Research and Technology Innovation, School of Electrical Engineering, Hanoi University of Technology and Dr. Khuất Việt Hùng, Chairman of Transport Planning and Management Section; Vice Chair of Institute of Transport Planning and Management, University of Transport and Communication. The speakers provided thorough discussion about the current situation of transport in Vietnam and suggested innovative solutions which included the Electronic Wheelchair PET and solutions for low carbon transportation in Vietnam’s cities.

“Sustainable Transport” is becoming more and more essential for the development in Vietnam, especially in modern cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The topic about Transport is now getting more attention from the public. Therefore, having a platform for people, especially young generation to discuss the issues is crucial. The “Green Innovation Forum – Sustainable Transport” has successfully created an open  platform for the  experts and audience to share their thoughts and opinions about “Sustainable Transport” in Vietnam. 

The forum was participated by a total of 54 people, including 32 audience, 6 journalists, 3 speakers and 13 volunteers; and previously attracted 113 registrations. Invited speakers openly imparted their experiences and creativity to the participants, followed by Q&A sessions, providing the audience the opportunities to clear up queries and learnt more about the speakers’ solutions.

Please click here to see more photos of the event.

GreennoCom participated as one of GreenBiz 2011’s media partners, as well as one of the 81 exhibitors at the GreenBiz 2011 Exhibition, presenting our services in offer and invitations for sponsorship and collaboration opportunities. Our exposition attracted hundreds of participants’ attention and interest in our services and products, including individuals and organizations from Vietnam, Europe and other international institutions.

Here are some pictures of GreennoCom booth at the GreenBiz2011 Exhibition:

GreenBiz 2011 was a large-scale platform for participants to contribute and discuss ideas regarding green business solutions for Vietnam, and a great opportunity to raise awareness on sustainable development in Vietnam.

Guest speakers invited to the event are Architect Hoang Thuc Hao, Chairman of 1+1>2 company and lecturer at University of Civil Engineering; and a team of three architecture students including Dao Thanh Hai, Dang Ngoc Anh, and Nguyen Ha Thang from Hanoi Architectural University and Phuong Dong University, who won the first place in the “Designs Against the Elements” (DAtE) 2010 competition, a global architectural design competition meant to find a solution to the problems presented by climate change. While Mr. Hao presents about his award-winning design of Suoi Re Village Community House; the winners of DAtE will be sharing about their innovative idea for the “Self-help Proofing Village” design.

The concept of sustainable building and green architectural design initiated from the essentiality of improvement on environmental aspects of construction quality, such as efficient consumption of resources; protecting occupants’ health; and reducing waste and pollution from construction sites. The “Green Innovation Forum – Sustainable Building and Architecture” has become a platform for people interested in the development of eco-building and sustainable architecture to communicate and exchange ideas in resolving the remaining issues of building and architecture in Vietnam.

The forum was participated by a total of 80 people, including 43 audience, 16 journalists, 5 speakers and 10 volunteers; and previously attracted 169 registrations. Invited speakers openly shared about their experiences and creativity with the participants, followed by Q&A sessions, providing the audience the opportunities to clear up queries and learnt more about the speakers’ designs. The event was also a platform for individuals with interest in sustainable building, architecture, and solutions to climate change problems to connect and discuss ideas.

Click here to see more photos of the event.

Time: 9.00 – 11.00, Saturday 04 June 2011
Location: Room 202, FPT University, Detech Building, 8 Tôn Thất Thuyết, Hà Nội.
Fee: Free

Two guest speakers of the first event are Associate Professor Pham Ngoc Lan from College of Science, Vietnam National University with his research on Biodiesel production from waste cooking oil and Mr. Nguyen Phan Kien, the team leader of the project “Energy-saving equipment for fluorescent lamps with adjustable brightness levels”, which won the first prize at The Green Idea Contest 2010.

Please reserve your seat by register here. For more information about the event, please email us at event@greenbiz.vn.

The main theme of YESE Express 2011 was a train journey for young travelers to learn and explore the land of social entrepreneurs. Throughout the event, the slogan “Prepare your backpack: Travel around” also called young participants to enrich their knowledge and experience and to nurture their entrepreneurial spirits.

YESE Express 2011 was designed with various activities to diversify the experience of participants. On the Express Train, participants had an opportunity to see different social business projects run by university students in “Business Incubator” and to discover “Genovia Land” to learn about sustainable development and social entrepreneurship knowledge and activities. Finally, they came back to “Entrepreneurs Square” to attend an interesting discussion with famous social entrepreneurs and experts in this area in Vietnam, including Mrs. Pham Kieu Oanh – CSIP’s Managing Director, Mr. Nguyen Quang Thach – Director of Centre for Knowledge Assistance and Community Development, Ms Phan Y Ly – Director of Life Art, Mr. Don Tuan Phuong – Founder & President at Volunteers for Peace and Ms Nguyen Thi Phuong Thanh – Director of Vietnam Education Fund (VEF).

Joining the journey with YESE, more than 300 students have learned not only a new concept but many of them now gradually considered social entrepreneurship as a new and effective approach to sustainably tackle many issues in the society and in their communities.

The event is the final stage in the YESE Program 2011. Previous, YESE members joined in an educational and highly experiential program to learn about social entrepreneurship and sustainable development, following by a field trip to Hoa Binh in February.

The main purpose of JEEF Young Environmental Leadership Program is to support creative and practical green ideas and green projects of young citizens coming from Southeast Asia countries.

The event attracted great attention from Vietnamese students and professionals working in environment areas, especially environmental education. During the Forum this year, besides learning from 7 JEEF-sponsored projects, Vietnamese participants could also expand their networks in environmental field to the region.

The Forum also welcome Associate Professor Nguyen Hoang Tri, Director of Center for Environmental Research and Education, Hanoi National University of Education, Secretary General, Vietnam MAB National Committee as the keynote speaker. His research on the relationship between preservation and development and lessons learned for Vietnam has received great interest from both Vietnamese and foreign participants.

The conference discussed the opportunities and potential of investment in green buildings and energy efficiency buildings in Vietnam. Four presentations were led by representatives from Environmental Defense Fund, Vietnam Green Building Council (VGBC), Kuma Asia Design and Big C Vietnam. The speakers have outlined the picture of sustainable development in construction industry in Vietnam, which was considered to be quite novel but very potential. Besides sharing experiences in developing and managing green buildings in Vietnam, the speakers also introduced green building management and assessment tools, which could be applied in other businesses and buildings.

The Green Buildings Conference was a platform for people and organizations interested in sustainable constructions, including architects, material suppliers, construction firms and real estate developers to network and look for future investment and cooperation. Green building is not only an important aspect of the green economy but also creates new, more sustainable competitive advantages for real estate companies in Vietnam.

With the participation of many experts from environmental organizations, including PECSME, VCAP, Compass Company, CARITAS, IUCN, and HealthBridge, the Green Living workshop became an open forum where everyone could share knowledge, experiences related to protecting environment and building sustainable lifestyle in Vietnam. Organizations presented reports, surveys and results that they had done for many years as well and commented about environmental issues in Vietnam. The reports included:

- “Energy Efficency”, Speaker: Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nga, “Promoting Energy Conservation in Small and Medium scale Enterprises” (PECSME) project Consultant.

- “Green Transport” about the situation of using environment friendly transport in Vietnam, Speaker: Dr. Pham Ngoc Dang, president of Vietnam Clean Air Partnership (VCAP), Director of Center of Environmental Technology for Urban and Industry, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering.

- “Water and Life”, Speaker: Jake Brunner, Programme coordinator for Vietnam, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).

- “Eco-wise Consumption”, Speaker: Ms. Tran Thi Hai, Executive Director, Compass Vietnam JSC.

- “Carbon Footprint and Tree Planting Campaign”, Speaker: Ms. Nguyen Thu Thuy, Caritas.

- “Neighborhood Walk and Green Living”, Speaker: Ms. Stephanie Geertman and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hien, Livable Cities Consultant, Health Bridge.

The Neighborhood Walk workshop was the highlight of the event because the “Neighborhood Walk” program is an important event raising people’s awareness of walking as well as reflecting difficulties and obstacles hindering neighborhood walk in communities in Hanoi. Delegations from 4 wards in Hanoi participated in Neighborhood Walk workshop under operation of Ms. Nguyen Tue Anh, the staff of The Green Days project, and Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien, Consultant from HealthBridge Canada. In the workshop, representatives of each ward alternatively reported about the walk ability in their own community. Then, with the assistance of experts in construction field, they built a report reflecting all problems about walk ability in order to complain to authorities of Hanoi. The report then was indicated by Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien in The Green Living workshop and was acclaimed by audiences.

On the other hand, the Green Living workshop could have been not successful if there had been not the enthusiastic attendance of experts, journalists and visitors. They contributed significantly to the success of workshop by interesting questions as well as sharing their own ideas about environmental issues. Moreover, the appearance of Miss Vietnam 2010, Dang Thi Ngoc Han also made the communication better for the workshop.

In conclusion, “Green Living” workshop as well as “The Green Days” project in general made a strong impression on participants namely the project team, volunteers, green living clubs, and everyone else involved. We, the project team, on behalf of organizers and sponsors, really hope that The Green Days series will be expanded more and more in coming years and that the program will attract more and more people to “live green for green thousands of year”. We also sincerely thank volunteers; members of Green Living clubs in 4 wards namely Thuong Dinh, Ha Dinh, Phuc Tan, Giap Bat; news agencies; organizations; and many Vietnamese people for supporting the project. With citizens like you, we believe that Vietnam will become strong and green country in the world as the wish of many our previous generations.

In 2010, Earth Hour continued to spread out over the country with a the message “Small action, big impact”. This is an important event for organisations working in the field of environment and sustainability. It is also an opportunity for many companies to communicate their environmental efforts and vision of becoming a sustainable business to their customers.

During the Earth Hour week, GreennoCom has also launched a communication campaign through its information portal GreenBiz.vn. The focus of this campaign was a promotion poster called “Earth Hour – For our future” which aimed at young adults and young business people in Vietnam.