(December 8, 2023) 

Sunwah – On the evening of December 7, 2023, the Finale of “National Innovative Startup Competition – RnD to Startup 2023″ took place successfully at Nguyen Van Dao Hall, located on campus of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU). This is an annual competition on Entrepreneurship and Innovation of VNU organized by the Center for Enabling Startups and Knowledge Transfer, under the sponsorship and co-organization of Sunwah Innovations, Sunwah Group, Hong Kong). Officiated at the event were: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Bao Son, Deputy Director of VNU; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Truong Ngoc Kiem, Center for enabling Startups and Knowledge Transfer, VNU; Ms. Janice Le, Representative of Sunwah Group (Hong Kong) in Hanoi; and Ms. Katie Nguyen, Representative of Sunwah Group (Hong Kong) in Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Director of Sunwah Innovations.

Associate Professor. Dr. Pham Bao Son – Deputy Director of VNU delivered the opening speech (photo by VNU)

Speaking at the Finale, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Bao Son, Deputy Director of VNU said: “This year’s student start-up projects are of very good quality, bringing many creative, applicable and feasible solutions. Some projects not only focus on the business aspect but also aim to solve social problems. The competition has brought meaningful experiences to the participating teams and the Organizing Committee. We believe that the ideas and projects in this year’s competition will be green shoots to become businesses in the future, contributing to the development of Vietnam, Vietnamese business and entrepreneur community.”

Ms. Janice Le, Representative of Sunwah Group (Hong Kong) in Hanoi delivered a welcome speech (photo by VNU)

Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Bao Son, representing the Competition Organizing Committee, awarded the medal to Ms. Janice Le, representative of Sunwah Innovations (photo by VNU)

In her welcoming speech, Ms. Janice Le, Chief Representative of Sunwah Group (Hong Kong) in Hanoi, expressed her honor to be a sponsoring partner and co-organizer of the contest for 3 consecutive years. She shared: “Sunwah Innovations pays great attention to promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education, through accompanying a number of student start-up competitions, in which the National Innovative Startup Competition is always one of the key projects that Sunwah Innovations wants to contribute resources and efforts to nurture and incubate young talents.” She also appreciated the scale and quality of this year’s competition, and also commented that Vietnam in the past few years has accelerated and stood out as a regional technology innovation center, attracting the attention of investors as well as large businesses globally. With the advantage of a dynamic young population, along with a favorable business environment and active support from the government, Vietnam is a very potential new market in the field of technology.

The Jury Council includes: Ms. Katie Nguyen, Representative of Sunwah Group in Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Director of Sunwah Innovations; Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh (Shark Binh) – Chairman of the Board of Directors of NextTech Group; Mr. Pham Thanh Hung (Shark Hung) – Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cen Group; Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam – Former Deputy General Director of FPT Corporation, founder of FUNiX; Mr. Doan Duc Minh – Former Deputy General Director of PVcombank, founder of Ami&M Vietnam Group (photo by VNU)

The Jury Council received flowers and medals from the program (photo by VNU)

At the RND TO STARTUP Finale, Ms. Katie Nguyen, Representative of Sunwah Group in Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Director of Sunwah Innovations joined the Jury board with experts from well-known corporates in Vietnam, including: Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh (Shark Binh) – Chairman of the Board of Directors of NextTech Group; Mr. Pham Thanh Hung (Shark Hung) – Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cen Group; Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam – Former Deputy General Director of FPT Corporation, founder of FUNiX; Mr. Doan Duc Minh – Former Deputy General Director of PVcombank, founder of Ami&M Vietnam Group. At the Finale, the Top 8 presented their projects with enthusiasm and answered critical questions of the Jury Council and win the most prestigious title of the competition. At the end of the competition, the First Prize was awarded to the team “HUPTECH – TechNexa Automatic food fermentation system – duangon24h”, the Second Prize was awarded to “FastV – Short video creation platform applying artificial intelligence” , and two Third Prizes went to two projects “ALLOEH – Aloe vera gel patch to support first aid for 1 and 2 degree burns” and “S2M – Production of artificial skin from mango peel”. In addition to the certificate and cash prize, the First and Second teams will participate in a 1-week startup training program in Singapore.

Ms. Janice Le, representing the sponsor and co-organizer, awarded the First Prize to the competition team (photo by VNU)

After launching in September 2023, the contest ““National Innovative Startup Competition – RnD to Startup 2023” has attracted a large number of students to participate, with a total of 105 projects from 35 universities across the country. The startup projects brought to this year’s competition have many new solutions and technologies in many fields such as: New materials technology, environmental technology, biology, mechanical technology, electronics, business management solutions using artificial intelligence, Big data, IOT… This is an opportunity for students to share, exchange, learn from experience, spark startup ideas, and commercialize scientific researches, inventions, useful solutions, applications to solve social and business problems. At the same time, further develop startup programs for students across the country. The success of the contest is also proof of the trend and pervasiveness of creativity among Vietnamese youth today. This also actively contributes to promoting the development of technology as well as the country’s economy in the near future. 

Some pictures of the competition (photo by VNU)