With their strong passion and creativity, the C-TEK team won the first prize of 10 million VND at the recent Da Nang Startup Runway 2017 for successfully creating a multi-purpose jacket.  The group consists of talented students from the city’s universities of Economics, Architecture and Duy Tan.

The team happy with the first prize at the Da Nang Startup Runway 2017

Jointly organised by the University of Economics and Ireland’s Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), the Da Nang Startup Runway aimed to encourage contestants to promote their creativity in startup activities, and to take the initiative in bringing their ideas to fruition. 

Apart from keeping users warm during the cold weather, the jacket can be converted into a sleeping bag.  It is made of Gore-Tex fabric which features an extremely thin membrane that’s durable, waterproof, windproof, and breathable.  In particular, a layer of foam inside the jacket allows it to be turned into a life jacket.

Ly Thu Uyen, a member of the C-TEK team, remarked that this convenient jacket will be of interest to various types of customer, especially backpacking visitors, office workers, those who usually work on night shifts, homeless people, and flood victims.

Uyen said that she and her teammates had spent a lot of time selecting suitable cloths and designing their product.

In the early days of their research, the students faced numerous difficulties, including busy academic schedules at their universities.  However, thanks to their hard-working spirit and strong determination, the talented students made their dream come true!  She added that the team has conducted a survey of local citizens to learn about their diversified requirements.

After winning their first prize at the Da Nang Startup Runway 2017, the C-TEK team attended a 4-week start-up training course at CIT.  This institute offers full-time, part-time and specialist courses in arts, business and humanities, computing and information technology, engineering, media, music, nautical studies, and science.

Uyen affirmed that, during the course, she and her teammates gained valuable experience about running a start-up business, teamwork skills, problem solving, and conflict resolution. The trainees were very happy as their start-up ideas were welcomed and highly appreciated.  The young start-up lovers now realise that they must risk everything to accomplish their dream despite the many potholes on their road to success.

Currently, the C-TEK team are increasing their efforts to develop their product, with a focus on adding a small anti-mosquito device into the jacket, and they aim to have their  product on sale as soon as possible.