On May 28, the National Innovation Center (Ministry of Finance) and Meta Group jointly organized the announcement of the Vietnam Innovation Challenge program - VIET NAM AI INNOVATION CHALLENGE. The program will take place in Da Nang, from July 17-19, 2026.
Implemented within the framework of Vietnam Innovation Challenge 2026, Vietnam Innovation Challenge is the first AI-native hackathon in Vietnam, gathering 2,000-3,000 programmers and young people to solve practical problems from businesses in 48 hours.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Nguyen Khanh Linh - Head of Investment Promotion and Strategic Technology, National Innovation Center (NIC) - said that through the program, challenges in production, logistics, public services, education, health or smart cities will be opened up for the AI community to participate in solving with practical solutions.
NIC expects the program not only to promote faster and more effective AI application in the economy, but also to contribute to forming a real-world AI human resource, promoting open innovation and improving national competitiveness in the AI era," said Mr. Nguyen Khanh Linh.
According to Ms. Thao Griffiths - Director of Public Policy in charge of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar of Meta, Meta has accompanied NIC in the Vietnam Innovation Challenge Program since 2022. Over the past time, Meta has coordinated with NIC, partners, businesses, research centers and universities to support Vietnam's innovation and digital transformation goals.
Cooperation activities span from innovative solutions in AI, semiconductors to the development of high-quality Vietnamese language dataset ViGen. Since 2018, Meta has also implemented projects to popularize digital skills and AI skills for nearly 1 million teachers, students, and parents.
Meta is committed to accompanying the Government and businesses of Vietnam in the process of innovation. In 2026, Meta will gather small, micro, medium and small enterprises to support the application of AI tools on the platform of this group in business development and market access in Vietnam, the region and the world.
This is a direction suitable for the reality of the Vietnamese economy, where the small and medium-sized enterprise sector accounts for a large proportion but still lacks resources to apply technology methodically," Ms. Thao Griffiths affirmed.
According to a representative of Meta, Vietnam is owning one of the most dynamic technology product developer communities in Southeast Asia. Vietnam AI Innovation Challenge is built to turn that creative energy into products with practical value, handling specific business problems. Meta together with NIC, AI for Vietnam Organization and Duy Tan University will accompany and support developers in the product development journey.
From the perspective of human resource training, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Gia Nhu - Rector of the School of Computer Science and AI, Duy Tan University - said that Viet Nam Innovation Challenge is a playground that opens up a real-world environment for young people to train their ability to apply AI to product development, handle specific business problems, and connect with investors, experts and international technology networks.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Gia Nhu, as AI increasingly becomes the core competitiveness of each country, Vietnam needs highly applicable programs to discover, nurture and connect talents.
He expects that from the competition in Da Nang, there will be potential teams, products that can be deployed in practice and further, a generation of Vietnamese AI engineers capable of participating in the regional and international markets. This is also a suggestion for a new technology training model, where schools, businesses and the innovation ecosystem need to be closely linked.
