Economy

The "green" inventor and his journey to bring technology to the world.

Thanh Phuc • January 1, 2026 19:30

As the year draws to a close, the story of engineer Ho Xuan Vinh – who recently won five international awards at the Seoul International Invention Fair (SIIF) 2025 – has become a beautiful highlight in Vietnam's creative landscape. For over a decade, Vinh has upheld a steadfast philosophy: to do science to solve real problems, create real value, and serve the community, pursuing biomaterials, green mechanics, and food technology to find a path to sustainable development…

Thanh Phuc/Technique:Hong Toai• January 1, 2026

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As the year draws to a close, the story of engineer Ho Xuan Vinh – who recently won five international awards at the Seoul International Invention Fair (SIIF) 2025 – has become a beautiful highlight in Vietnam's creative landscape. For over a decade, Vinh has upheld a steadfast philosophy: to do science to solve real problems, create real value, and serve the community, pursuing biomaterials, green mechanics, and food technology to find a path to sustainable development…

At the Seoul International Invention Fair (SIIF) held in early December 2025, three projects by Ho Xuan Vinh and his colleagues attracted special attention from the international expert panel. These were Abaca fiber, an energy-saving construction machinery line, and sodium-reduced salt technology – three different research directions, but all connected by placing the "green" element at their core.

Most noteworthy is the project to create non-woven fabric from Abaca fiber – a type of banana fiber that can be grown in Nghe An province. For Vinh, the appeal of Abaca lies not only in its durability and biodegradability but also in opening up a new raw material source, creating stable livelihoods for farmers. The production process is designed to be clean: no chemical waste discharge, water conservation, and reduced energy consumption. An Abaca fabric, therefore, is not simply an industrial product, but also a solution to the problem of reducing plastic waste in agriculture and daily consumption.

Alongside this, the fuel-efficient construction machinery, the result of over 20 years of dedication from his family's mechanical workshop, marks a significant advancement in green engineering. The new production line reduces fuel consumption by 20-30%, automatically optimizes vibration and pressing force according to material type, and reuses hundreds of tons of industrial waste annually when widely applied. In the context of the construction materials industry shifting towards energy saving and emission reduction, Vinh's invention is seen as a forward-thinking step.

In the field of food technology, Nanosalt, a reduced-sodium salt, continues to demonstrate his philosophy of "science for the community." Retaining the familiar salty taste but with less sodium, this technology offers a healthier option for consumers while making better use of seawater and salt-making by-products. As Vinh once said: "If a product is truly good, people will choose it. I'm just trying to make that easier."

After more than a decade of hard work, his business has acquired 35 exclusive patents, 10 patents pending, 4 OCOP 3-star products, and equipment exported to 7 countries. Five international awards at SIIF 2025 – including 2 Gold Medals, 2 Bronze Medals, and 1 Special Award – are well-deserved recognition of the strength of a green technology ecosystem built from a traditional craft village.

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An invention is only truly successful when it enters real life and produces tangible results. That's why I call my journey the journey of a "green inventor." And if you ask what SIIF 2025 has given me, it's the belief that this path is the right one and that there's still a long way to go…”

Engineer Ho Xuan Vinh

Instead of choosing the safe path of a typical mechanical engineering business, Vinh set a new goal: to create truly inexpensive and durable equipment that would be easily accessible to farmers, enabling them to prosper on their own land. Therefore, he didn't stop at his existing inventions but continued to develop large-scale projects: researching hillside clay bricks and earth concrete to reduce cement use; a production line for washing salted sand and recycling fine sand for construction; producing organic fertilizer from agricultural by-products; and perfecting a bio-material ecosystem. Each research direction, though different, aims at a common goal: saving resources, reducing emissions, increasing the value of agricultural products, and creating more livelihoods for rural areas.

Vinh also harbors the dream of building an innovation ecosystem right in Nghe An, where ideas germinate from the fields, from the concerns of farmers, and are nurtured and developed into valuable products. He wants to prove that invention doesn't belong only to large institutes or high-tech zones, but can start from a small workshop, from a craftsman learning a trade from his father, as long as he has enough passion and perseverance.

Looking back on the journey from the first brick-making machine to the podium of honor in Seoul, the story of this engineer born in the 1980s is a journey of willpower, of a desire to contribute, and of a simple belief: Technology only truly has meaning when it brings practical benefits to the community.

Inventor Ho Xuan Vinh shared: “I see SIIF 2025 as a beautiful milestone, but not the destination. To me, it's like a mirror reflecting the path I've persistently followed for many years: doing applied science, solving life's problems, and creating useful value for people. What makes me happiest is not the number of medals, but the international recognition of the efforts of a research group from Nghe An, who chose to venture into difficult fields requiring significant capital and long-term patience, instead of chasing short-term trends.”

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the market, where many innovations are driven by short-term profits, people like Ho Xuan Vinh choose a different path: slower, quieter, but more enduring. Because behind every "green" invention lies a very real desire - to help their homeland prosper from what they already have, and to help rural Vietnam enter an era of sustainable development.

And that journey, of course, is still continuing...

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During the period 2020-2025, engineer Ho Xuan Vinh was awarded 1 Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister, 1 Certificate of Merit from the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, 1 Certificate of Merit from the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), 8 Certificates of Merit from the Central Youth Union, 2 Certificates of Merit from the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, 8 Certificates of Merit from the Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province, and 1 "For the Cause of Science and Technology" badge...