Vietnamese students win gold medal in international startup competition

Today, October 17, British University Vietnam (BUV) announced that two students representing the school in the Global Start-up Design Thinking Hackathon have won the gold and bronze prizes.

Specifically, the project “SpeakEase,” an application that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to support children with language difficulties in communicating with their parents, by student Nguyen Thien Quang (3rd year student, Computer Science program) and his team, won the gold medal.

The project “Transparity,” promoting transparency in the activities of charitable funds, by female student Phan Le Ngoc Trang (2nd year student of the Finance and Economics program) won bronze.

Sharing about the project, Thien Quang said that he himself has congenital difficulties in movement and communication, so he understands better than anyone the difficulties that young people with communication disorders as well as their families and relatives are facing.

Since then, Thien Quang has inspired, convinced and led teammates from Thailand, Korea and Indonesia to develop the SpeakEase construction project.

Responding to the program's "lightning-speed" requirements, SpeakEase was conceptualized and developed by Thien Quang's team in just 48 hours.

Overwhelming in creativity, social significance and high applicability, the SpeakEase project excelled over 12 other projects to win the highest gold prize of the competition.

“I think children with disabilities should be cared for, understood, and given equal opportunities to connect with their peers. I also hope that the group’s solution can support parents with children with language difficulties in their journey to connect with their children,” Thien Quang shared.

Quang is also planning to research and apply a pure Vietnamese large language model to the application, helping disadvantaged children in Vietnam to also have access.

With the “Transparity” project, Phan Le Ngoc Trang said the blockchain-based project aims to ensure transparency and accountability in charitable disbursements.

Using smart contracts, the platform allows donors to track donations in real-time, ensuring that their donations are used effectively and providing regular updates on the impact of charitable donations, thereby creating a transparent and reputable charitable community.

The Global Start-up Design Thinking Hackathon is organized by the eXtended Reality Center and the School of Virtual Convergence (Chung-Ang University, Korea).

The event brought together students from 13 universities from 9 countries on innovative technology solutions with potential applications in real life.

The competition aims to provide opportunities for students to develop innovative solutions in the field of immersive media and to promote collaboration and entrepreneurship among students around the world.