Masan Group: The goal of innovation needs to go straight to problem solving
At the meeting between the Government Standing Committee and business representatives on the occasion of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs Day on the afternoon of October 11, Deputy General Director of Masan Group, Mr. Nguyen Thieu Nam, spoke and shared the business's efforts in innovation and creativity.
Attending the meeting in Hanoi were Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Deputy Prime Ministers, representatives of ministries, leaders of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry and leaders of typical enterprises in Vietnam.
In 2022 and 2023, due to the continued impact of the Covid-19 pandemic combined with the negative impacts of geopolitical fluctuations and armed conflicts in the world, the operations of Vietnamese enterprises have been facing many difficulties, and the country's economic growth has been affected. The international market has declined, credit interest rates have increased, exchange rates have fluctuated, and many important markets such as the domestic real estate market have fallen into a very difficult situation, creating great pressure on businesses.
In that context, the Party and State have promptly issued many important policies to support businesses. The business community respectfully acknowledges the efforts of the Government and authorities at all levels, especially the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, leaders of ministries, branches, and leaders of provinces and cities, who have resolutely directed, removed difficulties, and gradually removed many major bottlenecks for businesses.
With Vietnam's policy of encouraging innovation, new sustainable economic models have emerged and developed in Vietnam in recent times. Many pioneering enterprises have promoted investment, technological innovation, and business models towards green economy, circular economy, and ESG to transform waste/by-products into new raw materials, new products with high added value, and reduce carbon emissions.
Technological innovation towards green economy, circular economy
Speaking at the Conference, a representative of Masan Group stated that the goal of innovation should go straight to contributing to solving emerging issues, including climate change, green development, clean energy...
Specifically, a subsidiary of Masan Group, Masan High-Tech Materials, has just launched a globally registered tungsten powder brand "starck2charge®" used in the production of fast and safe Li-ion batteries. This product is expected to help solve new energy problems and create a clean energy ecosystem, especially playing an important role in the electric car industry; or a mixed tungsten powder product serving industries using 3D printing technology with high stability and purity, especially suitable in the medical field.
Mr. Nguyen Thieu Nam proudly shared that Masan High-Tech Materials is the world's leading manufacturer of high-tech Tungsten and Tungsten Carbide metal powders, with production complexes in Vietnam, Germany, Canada and China and 2 research and development centers in Germany and Vietnam. As of 2023, the Company has nearly 100 new patents worldwide and another 50 patents in the application phase.
These outstanding technological achievements help Masan High-Tech Materials no longer depend on primary supply in mineral exploitation but also promote a circular business model through mining waste right in urban areas, collecting, processing production waste and recycling scrap, returning production materials, and end-of-life assets to become raw materials to create new materials and new products.
Through research projects, Masan High-Tech Materials has developed and perfected a recycling process that allows for the recovery of all Lithium, Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, and Manganese from waste battery products; and has also developed specific refining formulas to achieve higher tungsten recovery efficiency.
These outstanding technological achievements help Masan High-Tech Materials no longer depend on primary supply in mineral exploitation but also promote a circular business model through mining waste right in urban areas, collecting, processing production waste and recycling scrap, returning production materials, and end-of-life assets to become raw materials to create new materials and new products.
Research and development of products in the consumer goods sector
In the consumer production sector, the Deputy General Director of Masan Group said that the company always focuses on investment and has the capacity for Research and Development. With an investment of nearly 3 million USD, Masan's Research and Development Center in Binh Duong is one of the largest product research and development centers in Vietnam in the field of food and beverage. This is where Masan's outstanding initiatives are born, including family meal replacement products, introducing convenient food products with a variety of flavors and packaging, bringing consumers a healthier, more complete and convenient meal.
For example, "Hanoi beef and crab hotpot" is one of many outstanding new products of Masan in 2023. This is a hotpot product that boils itself without the need for hot water or a gas stove. This hotpot only needs to be filled with filtered water in the product package for 5-10 minutes to heat itself. Not only stopping at hotpot, Masan Consumer - a subsidiary of the Group will provide global consumers with vermicelli, porridge, pho, hu tieu products... with Vietnamese flavors. With new technology, Masan is confident that the product will still retain all the flavors without having to be cooked.
The trend of green transformation, circular economy, sustainable development according to ESG standards... is an irreversible path that businesses must participate in if they do not want to be left behind in the global game. This requires businesses to restructure their business models in the long term, towards digital transformation, transformation of production technology, and application of global green and sustainable standards to their products and services.
Mr. Nguyen Thieu Nam expressed that Masan is proud that its member and affiliated companies are all leading companies in the fields of fast-moving consumer goods, branded meat, retail, F&B chains, financial services, telecommunications and value-added industrial materials production. These are high-growth areas of the Vietnamese economy.
With innovative initiatives in all production and business sectors, Masan Group has continuously achieved many prestigious awards at home and abroad such as the Sustainable Development Enterprise Award 2023 organized by Nhip Cau Dau Tu Magazine, Enterprise with typical M&A strategy 2021 - 2022, Excellent and Sustainable Enterprise in Asia 2021...