Vietnam’s first nationwide AI-native hackathon kicks off

This event, co-sponsored by Meta, is the first AI-native hackathon in Vietnam on a national scale. Participants will design, develop, and optimize AI solutions to tackle real-world challenges faced by businesses.

Explaining Meta’s strong commitment to the program, Thao Griffiths, Meta’s Public Policy Director for Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, said, “Vietnam has an extremely dynamic community of technology product developers, arguably one of the most energetic in Southeast Asia.”

“We hope the Vietnam AI Innovation Challenge will provide opportunities for young Vietnamese talents to access the latest AI technologies and place them in the role of developers and builders of AI solutions capable of addressing very practical challenges faced by Vietnamese enterprises,” Thao added.

The event is expected to attract between 2,000 and 3,000 software engineers and young programmers. One of the highlights will involve contestants simultaneously departing on two transnational trains from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City where they will network and generate ideas for 12 hours and then gather in Da Nang for 48 consecutive hours of competition from July 17 to 19.

The competition is designed as a comprehensive six-month journey, including five weeks of pre-event training, technical support from leading Silicon Valley experts, and opportunities for investment connections and international market expansion to Singapore and the US. This will provide a complete pathway for Vietnamese innovations to reach the global stage, according to Ms. Griffiths.