The Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) has made it into Clarivate Analytics’ Leading Innovators List 2020 in South and South East Asia.

The Global Innovators report by Clarivate Analytics identifies the world's most innovative organizations.

Being recognized by Clarivate Analytics, a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, is proof of the university teachers’ and students' efforts and achievements in research and creativity in recent years.

The ventilator is designed by the HUST to help Vietnam fight against Covid-19. Photo: Minh Phuong

The innovative research products to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic include BK-Vent Supportive Respirator, Corona RT-Lamp Rapid Test Kit and Positive pressure chambers for filtering coronavirus on flights to Equatorial Guinea.

A group from the HUST spent a month during Hanoi’s social distancing period to research and design BK-Vent, a ventilator which has breathing support functions for Covid-19 patients that meet standards set by the Health Ministry and the Association for Advancing Safety in Health Technology. The most basic principle of this ventilator is that the machine supplies air containing oxygen to patients’ lungs, because Covid-19 patients have trouble breathing.

Corona RT-Lamp Rapid Test Kit was developed by a research team at the HUST. The new kit utilizes the reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) technique to detect the novel coronavirus using the naked eye, based on color changes of indicator chemicals. A sample could be processed within 30 minutes using the new kit, as opposed to around 120 minutes required for RT-PCR test kits, previously developed by Vietnam.

A positive pressure chamber is set up on a Vietnam Airlines aircraft used to bring home 120 Vietnamese infected with Covid-19 from Equatorial Guinea. Photo: Manh Hung

Four positive pressure chambers, which were produced by the HUST, were set up on a flight departed from Hanoi on July 28, 2020 to separate the Covid-19 infected passengers from others. The flight brought home 219 Vietnamese workers, of whom 120 are Covid-19 positive, from Equatorial Guinea.

In the university's science and technology development strategy, promoting innovation is one of the key tasks, through strengthening cooperation with businesses, incubating and supporting creative startups in the university and increasing support to the commercialization of inventions and useful solutions, contributing to solving socio-economic issues.

For the first time, Vietnam has three representatives recognized by Clarivate, including Hanoi University of Science and Technology (category of Higher education institutions), Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (category of Government’s research organization) and Viettel Industry - Telecommunication Group (category of Enterprises).