The project of a four-member Vietnamese team has landed in the top three positions at the Google Solution Challenge 2022 contest, which attracted over 800 candidate projects of university students from many countries around the world.

In the tournament’s final round on Thursday, the Gateway project of the team, from Ho Chi Minh City-based Hoa Sen University, surpassed seven other finalists to become one of the three best projects at the event, which had no first, second, or third ranking.

The two other winners are the Xtrinsic project from the University of Freiburg in Germany and the Blossom project of the University of Waterloo in Canada.

The four members of the Vietnamese team are Nguyen Dang Khuong, Truong Hoang Duy, Nguyen Vo Dang Cao, and Nguyen Manh Hung.

Every solution was graded on a 100-point scale and on two criteria, including impact (60 percent) and technology (40 percent).

Each member of the top three teams received a prize of US$3,000 and a certificate from Google.

The overall goal of the competition is to find solutions to problems facing local communities by using one or more Google technology platform products.

This year’s contest focused on how to help address issues related to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, gender equality, and clean water and sanitation, among others. 

Among the 835 projects competing in the contest, 74 were from Southeast Asia, including 16 from Vietnam.

Gateway is a technological solution that creates an open-source system intended for digital COVID-19 medical declarations at checkpoints without human assistance or intervention.

The project’s main goal is to reduce pressure on health workers, communities, and businesses in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, which started hitting Vietnam in early 2020.

“Gateway is a useful and appropriate solution to be applied at the entrances of all buildings and schools, helping to control the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively and minimize cross-contamination,” Vietnamese team member Khuong said.

This is the first time that a Vietnamese team has been among the top three winners of the Solution Challenge, an annual contest organized by the Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) community.

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