Two weeks have flown by since hackhcmc, yet the excitement remains palpable. Held at the VNUHCM Student Cultural House, this dynamic 24-hour hackathon brought together 582 innovative thinkers, all fuelled by a shared passion for creating something new.
Attracting Vietnam’s Brightest Minds
On this thrilling day, developers of all levels—from students to seasoned professionals—came together to tackle pressing challenges in Ho Chi Minh City, transforming innovative ideas into meaningful solutions.
Tackling Emerging Challenges with Code
Aligned with the hackglobal themes of Financial Inclusion, Social Responsibility, and Digital Empowerment, the challenge statements at hackhcmc addressed emerging problems facing Ho Chi Minh City:
- Financial Inclusion: Create a basic mobile finance tool to improve financial inclusion, integrating unbanked and underbanked individuals.
- Social Responsibility: Design an innovative community-driven technical solution to foster environmental stewardship.
- Digital Empowerment: Develop a solution to empower communities through digital innovation.
Rising to the challenge, 52 innovative projects were crafted in just 24 hours. Guidance from seasoned mentors and judges in Ho Chi Minh’s tech scene motivated participants to investigate their communities’ problems and devise solutions to better their lives.
Showcasing Creative Solutions
The project presentations showcased the participants’ exceptional creativity and commitment, with each team revealing unique solutions that could have a significant real-world impact on Ho Chi Minh City’s pressing issues.
At the celebratory closing ceremony, achievements were celebrated, and the top three teams from each track received awards for their exceptional efforts. Team BunBoHue, the Grand Winner in the Social Responsibility track, secured their spot at the hackglobal Grand Finals in Singapore this October.
In a short interview, hackhcmc’s Grand Winner, Team BunBoHue’s Nguyen To Binh, mentioned that Vietnam’s pollution inspired them to choose the Social Responsibility track and develop EcoMove. Becoming the Grand Winner was not easy, as the team faced multiple technical hurdles when integrating various AI models with limited resources. Nguyen highlighted that
“working under pressure…sharpened our problem-solving skills and ability to innovate under constraints.”
This sentiment was echoed by Kody, leader of ProEye, the winning team of the Digital Empowerment track. He added that the expert mentorship was priceless and helped refine his technical skills and approach to innovation.
See the list of winning projects below:
Financial Inclusion Winner: Team AIO_APCS1’s Mr. Capy promotes inclusivity by enabling parents to manage and educate their children’s spending through real-time notifications and tailored plans while incentivizing children to improve self-management and engagement.
Social Responsibility Winner: Team BunBoHue’s EcoMove is a community-driven app that promotes environmental awareness through AI-optimized routes, support for local green businesses, and trading used items, engaging young adults and sustainable brands with eco-friendly choices and rewards.
Digital Empowerment Winner: Team ProEye’s Heineken Brand Detection App efficiently solves brand monitoring issues by detecting logos, products, consumer activities, and more, optimizing time and cost for comprehensive brand experience evaluation.
From Ho Chi Minh City to the World
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to VNUHCM Student Cultural House for co-hosting hackhcmc 2024. Their support and partnership were instrumental in making this event a resounding success.
Join the hackglobal Journey!
hackhcmc may be over, but the hackglobal journey continues. With virtual bounties and upcoming hackathons in cities worldwide, there are still plenty of opportunities to earn globes and secure your place in the Grand Finals.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of this global movement for innovation and impact here!
