SPIN has worked with over 500 small and medium companies in four sectors, namely garment - textile, wooden furniture, handicraft and packaging. The project has supported product innovation in the stages of product designing (redesigning and new product designing), product strategy building, and clean technology consulting and transfer. With the strong and close cooperation among companies, designers and specialists, as many as 2,000 products redesigned and newly designed to be environmentally friendly, harmless to consumer health.

By using resources efficiently and clean technologies, product innovation not only limits in the scope of a company but also forms a value chain comprising many companies operating in the same industry to support each other in production. Vietnamese companies are supported according to proactive approach. Specifically, based on technologies transferred, SPIN adapts them to specific conditions of supported companies and natural conditions of Vietnam. This very innovative business model and method has helped companies improve competitiveness, corporate social responsibility, and environmental friendliness of products as well.

Mr Nguyen Hong Long, Regional Coordinator of SPIN Project, said, after participating seminars and training courses organised by SPIN, most companies realised that it was not too hard to innovate sustainable products without compromising competitiveness. The companies have their capacities improved and motivations generated to embark on this new process using new knowledge and technology to effectively employ natural resources and utilise wastes for other material production.

The greatest success of the project is more than 30 sustainable technologies are developed, optimised and integrated into technology groups to fit conditions of Vietnamese companies and natural conditions of Vietnam. Particularly, three most successful technology groups are renewable energy, waste-free organic agriculture model, and green material. The renewable energy technology group includes solar dryers and biomass gas for livelihood and industry, which has been successfully applied for mushroom production companies and bamboo handicraft companies like Ngoc Dong and Hiep Hoa. Green material technology is successfully applied to bamboo processing in furniture production, biodegradable flower pot production and bamboo rolling products.

Specially, the waste-free organic farming model called I-Nature consists of a group of 25 sustainable technologies which are used to create a closed circle of development for crops and livestock in a balanced environment. This model was developed from traditional agricultural models and applied with new technologies to form a completely waste-free farming model, without causing any harm to the environment and human health. Currently, this model is being widely deployed in 10 households in Ba Vi and Soc Son districts, Hanoi and has positively contributed to raising incomes for local people.

Mr Long said, after SPIN project, sustainable technology groups and business communities with high commitment to this area have been established and created foundations for a sustainable future of Vietnam.

 The Sustainable Product Innovation (SPIN) project is implemented in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and funded by the SWITCH-Asia Programme of European Union, aiming to help enterprises to enhance competitiveness and raise profitability by performing sustainable product innovation while reducing environmental impact and improving corporate social responsibility throughout the product lifecycle. SPIN is coordinated by the Delft University of Technology (TUD) of the Netherlands with the participation of Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre (VNCPC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Asian Institute of Technology in Vietnam (AITVN), the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI), and the Cambodia Cleaner Production Office (CCPO). 

Source: VCCI