The ‘Innovation and entrepreneurship’ festival has been organised by the Da Nang Youth Union, in coordination with the Da Nang Department of Science and Technology since 2020, to enhance innovation capacity and promote the startup movement among Youth Union members and young people.

The organising committee honours the first prize winning groups at the 2024 Da Nang Science Research Student contest. Photo: NGOC QUOC

This year, the ‘Innovation and entrepreneurship’ Festival took place on December 8, for the first time in Hoa Vang District, Da Nang attracted the participation of more than 500 Youth Union members, young people and students. This was an opportunity for the city’s youth to exchange, learn, introduce startup products and seek cooperation opportunities, connect with investors, experts and businesses.

The festival featured many activities, notably the exhibition space for 15 startup and innovation products, and high-prize scientific research topics developed by the city’s students. Among them, the booth displaying the water tank sludge suction system of a group of students from the University of Science and Technology, the University of Da Nang - UD, attracted the attention of businesses and people.

Nguyen Thanh Phuc from the Da Nang University of Science and Technology, the group leader, said that the above-mentioned product was researched and manufactured in 2023 to automate the cleaning process in water tanks.

The product design team consists of two parts: blowing, collecting dirt and sucking dirt out; at the same time, it was tested at the homes of some households in Hoa Khanh Nam Ward, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang with the result of filtering about 80% of dirt in water tanks.

“Through the festival, the group received many comments from experts and visitors. On that basis, we continued to improve and perfect to soon bring the product to the market to serve the people”, Phuc shared.

One of the highlights of the festival was 11 booths introducing OCOP products, typical agricultural products of Hoa Vang District, attracting many people to visit and shop. In addition, the Da Nang Youth Union organised a livestream competition to sell OCOP products.

Young people demonstrated their talent in leading, presenting and introducing typical products of each locality to consumers on the online platform.

Mr. Le Van Luu, the Secretary of the Hoa Tien Commune Youth Union, said: “After the livestream, OCOP products in the city were widely known and ordered by consumers on the online platform. This is an opportunity for young people to learn and know how to build creative content and to introduce, promote and trade startup products on social networks”.

Within the framework of the festival, the organising committee honoured the students who won prizes in the 2024 the Science Research Student competition.

Previously, the competition attracted more than 800 topics from students from 13 universities, colleges and research institutes in the city.

The jury selected 18 excellent topics to award prizes, including two first, two second, four third and ten consolation prizes.

In particular, the first prize in the field of science and technology, medicine, biotechnology, chemistry belongs to a group of authors from the Da Nang University of Medicine and Pharmacy with the topic ‘Application of genetic algorithms to simultaneously analyse active ingredients in multi-ingredient drugs’.

The first prize in the field of social sciences and humanities belongs to a group of students from the University of Economics - UD with the topic ‘Discovering the factors that promote the behaviour of using voice assistant technology of users in the United States and Viet Nam, helping technology developers optimize products”.

According to the Da Nang Department of Science and Technology, the Student Scientific Research contest, after 7 years of organisation, has attracted more than 5,000 topics, contributing to promoting the spirit of scientific research and the creative movement of students in the city.

From the award-winning research projects, many student groups have developed them into articles published in prestigious domestic and foreign journals. In particular, many research results continue to be completed, developed into startup products or transferred to businesses for practical application.

Secretary of the Da Nang Youth Union Le Cong Hung said that the Innovative Startup Festival is held annually to promote the innovative startup movement among union members and young people. This is an opportunity for the city's youth to introduce new startup ideas and projects to investors and businesses.

In the coming time, the Da Nang Youth Union will continue to organise career training courses, create conditions for loans, and help young people start sustainable businesses. At the same time, the unit will connect with businesses to support young people in the process of building and developing startup projects from ideas to implementation.

Translating by NGOC QUOC - Translating by A.THU