At an exhibition within the recent framework of the International Startup Conference and Exhibition in Da Nang (SURF) 2019, 2 products drew a great deal of attraction from visitors, namely the smart walking cane for the elderly and the mart water meter. Despite being created by very young people, these products have proved their high practicability and usefulness.

Nguyen Huy Dung introducing the mart water meter at SURF 2019

The 2 products have also advanced to the final round of the national-level contest on startup ideas for Vietnamese students, organised by the Ministry of Education and Training early October.

The smart walking cane for the elderly was created by a group of talented students from the Da Nang University of Technology and Education

Le Dang Thai Phong, a third-year student from the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the university, said, when witnessing his lecturer spend much time at office monitoring his old mother at home via a iPad camera connection kit. This inspired Phong to develop an idea that could help his lecturer and others feel more secure, not having to follow up on iPad.

As a member of the university's scientific research club, Phong encourage his coursemates, namely Nguyen Trong Nhien, Le Nhu Thien Sao, Le Thi Huong and Huynh Dinh Sam, to together create something useful for the elderly, and finally, the idea of making a smart walking cane for the elderly as born.

This smart cane, equipped with various connection technologies such as GPS and Internet, features convenient features.

The cane normally stands vertically. When its users have a fall, the sensor attached to the stick automatically makes phone calls or sends messages of warnings and notifications to smartphone-using caretakers via built-in GPS, whilst the loudspeaker system is also activated to alert surrounding people.

In addition, the handle of the stick also has some built-in buttons. In case users are in urgent need of help, they can easily press the buttons they want to make phone calls or send messages to their caretakers. 

Phong said that the team initially attached the device box to the stick, but they realised this design makes their product too cumbersome. Finally, they manage to find ways to integrate the box’s features into the handle of the stick.

Meanwhile, the mart water meter, the ‘brainchild’ of students Nguyen Huy Dung and Nguyen Van Kien from the city-based University of Science and Technology, helps to address an issue of concern relating to water use.

At SURF 2019, Dung pointed out to the fact that it takes a lot of time, efforts, and money to read and write water consumption indexes, and even worse, mistakes might occur in summarising and processing the data. In addition, many families cannot timely detect possible water leaks and losses. This reality compels the 2 young men to create the smart water meter.

The meter can read, update, and send data in real time to a management system. From there, the system synthesises data on the volume of used water, and calculates price for water usage bills, and then sends it back to consumers.

According to Dung, it needs 5 employees to read 1,000 mechanical water meters each day, whilst more than 3,000 smart ones are detected by one person.

This product is being supported by the municipal Department of Science and Technology to protect its copyright and promote the production of stereotypes.

According to Mr Tran Van Hoang, the Department’s Deputy Director, in the coming time, his agency will focus on giving direct support for locally-developed startup projects, especially in their early stage.

Priority will be given to start-up projects that are capable of rapid growth based on the use of intellectual property, technology and new business models, directly serve the city’s socio-economic progress, have high competitive advantages, and win high prizes at municipal, regional and national-level startup competitions.