Illustrative image. — VNA/VNS Photo

 HÀ NỘI — An Australia-funded project has chosen nine leading agritech scale-ups from overseas to enter the Vietnamese market with an aim of solving the country’s most pressing agrifood challenges, according to the Australian Embassy in Hà Nội.

Funded by the Australian Government through its Aust4Innovation, GRAFT Challenge Vietnam is designed to give promising innovators from around the world necessary support to scale into Việt Nam with effective solutions for agrifood challenges.

Applicants competing in the challenge came from 16 countries, including the US, Israel, Australia, India, and Thailand. Proposed solutions included integrated IoT solutions to improve water quality in local aquaculture systems; microbial solutions for environmentally-friendly crop health management; and microclimate monitoring and control systems for safer and more energy-efficient piggeries.

“Agrifood is a priority sector for Australia’s development efforts in Việt Nam, and we believe these companies have the potential to kickstart a wave of agricultural innovation in the country,” said Tom Wood, Programme Director of Aus4Innovation after the finalist announcement.

Prior to the challenge, the GRAFT team had convened industry working groups of Vietnamese agribusiness corporates to identify the unique challenges that face Việt Nam’s crops and plantations, aquaculture, and livestock industries. Many of these challenges were related to climate-driven production risk, improving feed cost-efficiency, reducing post-harvest losses, and building consumer trust. 

This August the nine scale-ups will begin receiving GRAFT’s 15-week programme of tailored support, during which a network of in-market experts will provide bespoke consultation to help the scale-ups validate their technologies. This phase of the program will culminate with the scale-ups presenting their solutions to Vietnamese agricultural corporations at an intensive week-long roadshow. — VNS