Many students from various schools in Hanoi have won medals for their entries at the 2023 World Invention Creativity Olympics (WICO) held recently in South Korea.

All three teams of eight students from Giang Vo Secondary School won gold medals at the competition. In the first team, Le Tam Trang, Dang Duc Luong, and Nguyen Minh Tuan won the Grand Prix Award, the highest prize in the competition, for their "Research on a model of heavy metal-contaminated water treatment using filter materials combined with microorganisms in the root system."

The winners in the second team include Nguyen Le Hoang, Tran Gia Khiem, and Vu Hong Phuc, who received gold medals for their project "Study on extracting biologically active substances from leaves to make dietary supplements for patients with gastric ulcer caused by Helicobacter pylori."

Meanwhile, Le Tuan Minh and Nguyen Bao Vi in the third team won a special prize from Thailand's Chulalongkorn University for their project "Research on making preparations to treat household plastic waste."

Hanoi students bag gold medals at the World Invention Creativity Olympic 2023. Photo: VNA

This is the eighth time that Vietnamese students have participated in WICO, an annual event organized by the Korea University Invention Association (KUIA) and sponsored by the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. This year, the 12th WICO was held in South Korea from July 27 to 29, with participants from 27 countries.

WICO 2023 gave middle and high school students around the world the opportunity to showcase their innovations. The competition also encouraged creative ideas, improves students' presentation skills, and builds a global network.

The contest also aimed to develop scientific aptitude and promote interest in science and technology among high school students around the world.

Another Vietnamese team won gold medals at WICO 2023, including Nguyen Minh Hai and Phuong Gia Phong from the High School for the Gifted Students under the VNU University of Sciences, Le Trong Hung from Nguyen Tat Thanh High School, Bui Le Minh from Nguyen Hue High School for the Gifted, and Vu Do Minh Tri from the US Cushing Academy.

The winners include Phuong Gia Phong, Le Trong Hung (frist and second from left), and Nguyen Minh Hai, Bui Le Minh, and Vu Do Minh Tri (first, second and third from right).

The team won the gold medal thanks to the topic "Making a sample vaccine cold storage and logistics management for northwest provinces in Vietnam". With the desire to solve the problems of vaccine storage and transportation, the team created vaccine storage and transportation boxes. The topic, developed during the Covid-19 pandemic, is appreciated by the organizers for its practical value to society.

Each year, WICO attracts nearly 1,000 contestants in various fields of science and technology from dozens of countries and territories, including traditional powerhouses such as the United States, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and others.

At the competition, contestants must present their research topics to an international panel of judges, and their studies must be novel, creative, and highly applicable. They must then fluently answer all the questions asked by the judges.

In another move, on July 20, all six Hanoi students who participated in the World Mathematics Invitational (WMI) 2023 in South Korea won gold medals.

The gold medalists were Dang Anh Tuan, Nguyen Hong Son, and Nguyen Dang Quoc Anh from Trung Vuong Secondary School; Nguyen Dinh Phong and Nguyen Quang Bao from Ngo Si Lien Secondary School; and Tran Lam Dao from Kim Lien Elementary School, all in Hanoi.

In addition to his gold medal, Tuan, an eighth-grader, was also honored with a "Star of the World" award, given to the student with the highest score in each team.

The WMI was co-founded in 2013 by the president of the Chinese Mathematical Association, Kun-Lung Tsai, and Professor Quan Lam of the University of California at Berkeley, according to the Asia Maths Alliance. Students from kindergarten to 12th grade can register for the competition.