The Asian Institute of Technology in Vietnam (AIT-VN) held a workshop on eco-innovation for small and medium enterprises in Hanoi on March 4.

The workshop aims at introducing the trend towards Eco-innovation to enhance the enterprises’ competitiveness in the market settings of sustainable consumption nowadays and in the future.

Eco-innovation is the development of products and processes that contribute to sustainable development. It is the development and application of a business model which will lead to a company’s environmental sustainability performance through a combination of significantly improved or new product (service), processing, market approach and organisational structure.

Doctor Nguyen Van Hop from the AIT-VN said that eco-innovation, or green innovation, enhances enterprises’ competitiveness while ensuring environmental protection and making them tap ecological resources effectively.

He also introduced participants to the results of the Sustainable Product Innovation (SPIN) project, which is sponsored by the European Union and implemented in Vietnam , Laos and Cambodia during 2010-2014.

The project has helped businesses boost sustainable production, he added.

Under the project, around 2,000 products, including handicrafts, bags, kitchenware and furniture, were also re-designed or newly-designed to be environmentally friendly.-VNA