(VOVWORLD) – Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thi Ai Nhung and her colleagues have researched the extraction of medicinal substances from some endemic plant species in Vietnam and have just won the 2024 Asian Innovation Award.

The research of Associate Professor Nhung, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Sciences at Hue University and her colleagues were awarded in January in the Outstanding Innovation category.

The award given by Japan’s Hitachi Global Foundation recognizes individuals and groups that undeniably served public interests through their outstanding achievements in research and development (R&D) in the fields of science and technology, including their visions of an ideal future society and social implementation plans for R&D as a means of achieving SDGs.

According to Professor Monte Cassim, Chairman of the 2024 Asia Innovation Awards Selection Committee, in this award-winning research, Associate Professor Nhung and her colleagues evaluated a number of indigenous and endemic medicinal species in Vietnam that have not been effectively exploited. This is the basis for the group to aim to create pharmaceutical products of natural origin, safe for humans, contributing to the need for health care while being environmentally friendly, he said.

Vietnam has six winners of the 2024 Asia Innovation Award.