PAM Air, an air quality index monitor developed by a Vietnamese startup, has been honored with the top prize at the Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards 2019.

APICTA is an alliance of national ICT (information and communications technology) organizations representing 16 member countries and economies from the Asia Pacific region.

APICTA's goal is “to build a mutually cooperative network, enhance technology innovations, capability, and adoption, and encourage the development of ICT solutions for the global market,” according to information posted on the alliance’s official website.

The alliance gives away an annual award to honor inventions in a range of categories, from community services, research and development, startups, big data analytics, Internet of Things, to artificial intelligence.

This year’s APICTA Awards took place in Ha Long, the capital city of the northern province of Quang Ninh, from November 18 to 22, with the participation of nearly 1,000 delegates, including over 650 foreigners from the APICTA member countries and economies.

It was the first time the event had been organized in Vietnam.

At the awards ceremony on the afternoon of November 22, PAM Air, an ambient air quality monitoring and air pollution warning platform created by Vietnam’s D&L Technology Integration and Consulting JSC, was selected as one of 24 top-prize winners by a 75-member jury.

PAM Air surpassed other products from a total of 324 entries submitted to the 19th edition of APICTA Awards to lift the trophy in the category of community services.

The product is the result of five years of research and experiment by an all-Vietnamese team of experts and engineers.

PAM Air was launched in February this year and is available for both desktop and mobile devices, offering users real-time updates on air quality and environmental conditions.

It has developed more than 200 air quality measurement points and now provides air quality readings in over 30 cities and provinces across Vietnam.

D&L plans to expand the PAM Air network to 2,000 measurement points and cover 63 provinces and cities nationwide by the end of 2020.

At the four-day event, the Vietnamese delegation was also awarded eight certificates of merit.

Vietnam has participated in the APICTA Awards for four years, with PAM Air being the second product of the country to have been honored.

At the APICTA Awards 2018 held in China, ViettelPay, a digital banking application developed by the Vietnamese military-run telecoms group Viettel, was honored with the top prize in the business service, finance and marketing category.

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