Over recent years, many science and technology innovation contests have been organised in Da Nang, which is considered to be a platform for local students to nurture a passion for scientific research, thereby creating many highly practical products.

A group of students from the Hoa Vang Senior High School took the first prize at the 4th season of the 'Creative Experience Competition with Intel Galileo U-Invent' organized by the Viet Nam - UK Institute of Research and Executive Education (VNUK, UD) for high school students in Da Nang. Photo: NGOC HA

Since the 2011-2012 academic year, Da Nang has hosted science and technology innovation contest for high school pupils for 11 consecutive years. The quantity and quality of projects significantly increase every year.

Particularly for the 2021-2022 academic year, the municipal-level contest attracted the participation of 293 pupils and 158 instructors from 30 teams, together providing 158 projects in 22 fields. Of which, 60 projects were made by secondary school pupils, whilst the remaining 98 come from senior high schools and multi-level schools.

From such competitions, many students create many highly practical products.

For example, the ‘A system to control and provide quick information on the critical conditions of COVID-19 patients’ project by Duong Dac Tien from the Hoang Hoa Tham Senior High School and Nguyen Ngoc Mai Khanh from the Kim Dong Junior High School won the first prize at the contest for the 2021-2022 academic year.

After 9 months of research, the students successfully put the project into operation in support of at-home medical isolation and treatment for COVID-19 patients.

Accordingly, through the sensor device, COVID-19 patients’ SpO2 and heart rate measurements, and temperature, are displayed on the medical record system on the website. In case the indicators are at a dangerous threshold, the system activates the emergency on the website, and sends an SMS alert to the doctor's phone.

Duong Dac Tien highlighted the significance of his research project in contributing to reducing pressure on health systems as well as improving the efficiency of at-home medical treatment and isolation in the context of complicated developments of the pandemic.

Tien unveiled that, in the future, his team will continue to improve the device’s features to support the treatment of some other diseases towards the family doctor model.

“By participating in the contest, I have the opportunity to experience a scientific and creative learning environment, as well as overcome my limitations and touch a new field of science and technology” remarked Tien.

Similarly, the ‘Food boxes replace styrofoam boxes’ project by a group of students from the Hoa Vang Senior High School took the first prize at the 4^th season of the 'Creative Experience Competition with Intel Galileo U-Invent' organized by the Viet Nam - UK Institute of Research and Executive Education (VNUK, UD) for high school students in Da Nang.

With the theme "Food Tech Innovation", this contest aimed to encourage and create opportunities for Da Nang high-school students to innovate science and apply knowledge and skills to solve practical real-life problems.

Le Thi Nhung Nguyet, leader of the group, said that team members made food containers from natural materials to replace foam boxes with a desire to contribute to changing the habit of using foam boxes, and reducing the amount of plastic waste in the environment.

Nguyet added she and other team members learned about some necessary soft skills such as critical thinking and teamwork through the competition.

Dr. Nguyen Thi My Huong, the Director of VNUK, said that the wave of startups and the rapid development of science and technology, especially during the Covid-19 outbreak, proved the vital role of digitalisation for all organisations. Since 2018, VNUK has organized an innovation contest for high school students in order to help them get early access to the field of science and technology.

“The contest aims to promote the spirit of scientific research and technological applications amongst high school pupils nationwide, as well as provides a good opportunity for them to have the best preparation and confidence to compete in major arenas, including ViSEF (a national-level Science and Technology competition for high school pupils).

Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Education and Training Mai Tan Linh, said that, in addition to municipal-level science and technology contest for high school pupils, universities citywide such as VNUK have organised scientific innovation contests, contributing to helping students satisfy their passion for scientific research and have better orientation in choosing their career paths.

Reporting by NGOC HA - Translating by M.DUNG