Associate Professor Doctor Pham Dinh Anh Khoi, Director of the Technology Business Incubation Center at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, stated on 12/9 that the record number of projects demonstrated the competition's widespread appeal to students both domestically and internationally.

According to Dr. Khoi, promotional support from the French Embassy, a strategic partner, helped the competition achieve global reach. Additionally, real-world problems commissioned by businesses, alongside training programs on creative entrepreneurship, idea development, and product refinement, significantly attracted contestants.

Bach Khoa Innovation was divided into four categories: high school, university, startup, and university-enterprise collaboration. The final round featured 57 projects, with nine of these coming from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia, and South Korea.

Dr. Khoi noted that most topics aligned with strategic technology groups, ranging from artificial intelligence (AI), digital transformation, blockchain, biotechnology, new materials, and smart healthcare to environment and energy.

"The younger generation's access to and application of technology to build new solutions is a positive sign, indicating their readiness to contribute to and master strategic technologies in the future", Dr. Khoi stated.

After several hours of competition, the championship in the university category went to the project "AI-assisted flood rescue unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)" by a team of students from the University of Malaya, Malaysia.

In the high school category, the project "Daily brightening and soothing acne gel serum for teens" by students from the International School Ho Chi Minh City (ISHCMC) and the Australian International School (AIS) won first prize.

The top-rated startup project was "VIM - Vulcanized insulating membrane" by the VIDENVAREN team. Meanwhile, the team from Vietnamese-German University, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, and Foreign Trade University won in the university-enterprise collaboration category.

The team from Malaysia won first prize in the university category with their "AI-assisted flood rescue UAV" project, 12/9. *Photo: HCMUT*

Le Nguyen