This is the first time in its 15-year history that a new category dedicated to start-up and innovation has been added, attracting the participation of many students.
According to the organisers, the total number of entries received is 418, with many submissions by overseas Vietnamese from the US, Canada, Germany and Switzerland.
Nguyen Long, chairman of the preliminary jury panel, said that the majority of products employ new technologies of the fourth industrial revolution such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, IoT and big data.
It is notable that the category for start-up and innovation is launched for the first time but attracted the largest number of submissions, many of which are designed to deal with pressing social issues such as air pollution, transport and agriculture.
The youngest contestant is 17 years old while the oldest is 78, affirming that the awards are attractive to IT enthusiasts of all ages.
At the 2019 edition, the overall winner will receive a cash prize of VND200 million (about US$8,600) while the second and third prizes are VND100 million and VND50 million respectively.
