Mr. Phan Ngoc Tho, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee (on the right) awarded the first prize in the IT innovative product at Hue-ICT Challenge 2022

A really effective playground

Hue-ICT Challenge 2022 came to an end in July 2022, but its success opens up many prospects. Hoang Bao Hung, Chairman of the Provincial Association of IT and Electronics-Telecommunications, judged, “The Hue-ICT Challenge is not only a playground to discover and honor talent in the IT field but also a vocational guidance address to lend wings to the love of school students and university students for IT."

The above assessment is well-grounded as Hue-ICT Challenge brought many positive signals right in the first year of organization. In terms of the innovative product competition for college and university students alone, there were the competition products from students of universities outside the province, including Quang Binh University, Quy Nhon University.

Mr. Hung said the innovative products originating from the Hue-ICT Challenge 2022 not only clearly show the creativity and proactivity in research, discovery and learning of the students but also are the potential products capable of practical application.

The typical products such as “Smart event attendance module in SMAT system”; "Vietnamese - Lao bilingual dictionary application on Android operating system"; “Software to support training and fault location training on power transmission line”, or “Designing smart cities based on IoT technology”… can demonstrate the diversity of products in application field and the abundance in approach to topics: website, software, IT application.

According to IT experts, the feasibility from products is a positive proof of the young generation in research, discovery and learning, especially proactivity and creativity – a must in the period of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

“More encouragingly, many candidates from Hue-ICT Challenge received IT job opportunities right at reputable IT units and enterprises in the province,” shared Mr. Hung.

The attraction from Hue-ICT Challenge 2022 was not less in the programming competition for senior secondary school students when the organizing committee received 524 school student registrations from 112 senior secondary schools in 14 provinces and cities across the country. The pervasive power excites pupils more in the IT field.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Thanh Tung, Rector of the University of Science, Hue University saidfrom this intellectual playground, a lot of talent has been discovered to foster and encourage to contribute to the province's IT human resources in the short run. This is of real value in contributing to the implementation of the provincial project, till 2025, for striving to reach 10,000 IT workers for development.

Prospects of development

2022 is the first year the Hue-ICT Challenge was held and given attention, facilitated, and elevated by the Provincial People's Committee to a province-level competition. However, in fact, the scope, scale, and significance of Hue-ICT Challenge reach even greater height.

 “The competition attracted a lot of school students and university students in the localities. It was not only an opportunity for exchange but also offered a lot of practical experience in research, in skill development," said Huynh Quang Trung, a contestant.

Even on the closing day of the Hue-ICT Challenge, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Phan Ngoc Tho also recognized the initial successes from the Hue-ICT Challenge and believed in the pervasiveness as well as the contributory values, prospects the competition offer.

According to Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Phan Ngoc Tho, the province is endeavoring to build a digital government, digital society, digital economy, and IT resources in the digital economy are absolutely vital. Therefore, it is expected that Hue-ICT Challenge in the coming time will be further expanded and elevated in order to create efficiency, contribute to realizing the target of building IT human resources, and meet the needs of the province's IT development in the coming time.

Assoc.Prof. Dr. Vo Thanh Tung said that the competition has inspired, aroused the passion for IT among senior secondary school students and given the university and college students more confidence in  embarking on the IT sector.

Hue-ICT Challenge 2022 was a programming competition for senior secondary school students and innovative IT products for college and university students, co-organized by the Provincial Association of IT and Electronics - Telecommunications in collaboration with the University of Science, Hue University under the guidance of the Provincial People's Committee. In organization, the competition was also accompanied by the Provincial IT Center, Provincial Institute for Development Studies, Department of Education and Training, Department of Information and communications, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Culture and Sports, and Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Story and photo: Huu Phuc