UK Students Power Sustainable Innovation in BUV’s First-of-its-Kind Hackathon

In just 72 hours, nearly 50 UK students on BUV’s Culture Immersion Programme leveraged their ingenuity and local experience to develop innovative AI-powered projects for a more sustainable Vietnam, powerfully showcasing the spirit of youth, innovation, and a forward-looking commitment.

Innovation Driven by Local Experience

This summer, BUV’s Culture Immersion Programme welcomed nearly 50 students from the UK as part of its mission to foster academic exchange and cross-cultural understanding. Alongside immersive cultural experiences, this year’s programme placed a strong emphasis on sustainability, encouraging students to engage deeply with local environmental and social challenges. Central to this effort was the first-of-its-kind “AI for Sustainable Vietnam” hackathon, which tasked students with developing innovative AI-powered solutions to address real-world sustainability issues across the country.

To help students turn local insights into impactful innovation, the hackathon journey was designed with a three-stage process: “Think Green”, “Live Green”, and “Do Green”. Students engage in thought-provoking discussions on sustainability with experts and BUV students and learn about design thinking (“Think Green”), experience how sustainability is embedded in everyday life in Vietnam (“Live Green”), and take concrete action through tree planting, participating in a trash picking activity in Ha Long Bay, and teaming up to devise AI-powered solutions for sustainability (“Do Green”).

Real-life experiences in Vietnam, such as engaging with locals, planting trees, and cleaning up Ha Long Bay, etc. have become a source of inspiration for UK students to come up with sustainable solutions

“What sets this Hackathon apart is that participants will build ideas based on what they saw, experienced, and learned during their immersion field trips,” shared Ms. Hien Nguyen, Head of BUV’s International Office. “Through this, we ensure that ideas are not abstract but rooted in real life issues witnessed in Vietnam.”

Seven diverse projects, addressing themes in agriculture, environment, education, and pollution, were developed in just 72 hours. These projects were fuelled by real-world experiences, youthful energy, and a collective commitment to a sustainable Vietnam.

All groups dedicated 72 hours to understanding the problems, collaborating, and creating solutions together

The winning idea, an AI-powered smart air conditioning solution, impressed judges with its creativity and inclusive vision. vCon is an AI-powered smart air conditioning solution designed for Vietnamese households. By integrating predictive cooling, energy tracking, and air purification, it aims to reduce electricity use by up to 30%, lower emissions, and improve indoor air quality. Targeting urban middle-class families, vCon makes sustainable living more affordable, efficient, and accessible, supporting Vietnam’s transition to cleaner, smarter energy use. This student-led initiative highlighted how technology could provide practical, family-focused solutions to everyday sustainability challenges, not just large-scale industrial or governmental ones.

Rayane Merrouche from Glasgow Caledonian University, a member of the winning team, shared his thoughts: “Before joining CIP, sustainability was something I was aware of but didn’t pay too much attention to. But since coming here, we have had hands-on experience and learned a lot, with the university teaching us. After having done so, it made me realise the value of it and working on the solution to take a whole different action which I didn’t think of before.”

These real-world experiences in Vietnam directly inspired many of the student-led ideas. The team of Zain Abdulah Khokhar from City St George’s, University of London, was particularly moved by their visit to Ha Long Bay. Impressed by the environment and tourism practices, they developed Vinh Hackers, an AI-powered water quality platform. This platform helps Vietnamese fishermen, coastal communities, and local authorities detect and respond to water pollution in real-time. By combining drone imagery, smart sensors, and predictive analytics, it issues timely alerts, supports clean-up coordination, and protects marine ecosystems, especially in areas like Ha Long Bay.

“Efforts to reduce plastic waste, notably the ban on plastic bottles across tourist boats, were truly impressive. But beyond that, locals shared other real challenges that we, as tourists, wouldn’t have noticed. That insight drove our project,” reflected Zain.

The remaining projects also showcased remarkable creativity and a strong commitment to solving pressing challenges through technology. From education to energy, these ideas reflect a deep understanding of Vietnam’s diverse needs.

Learning from Afar tackles educational inequality with a free, AI-powered platform that personalises offline learning for rural students while preserving cultural heritage. In agriculture, AgriLens leverages satellite imagery and machine learning to detect early soil degradation, promoting sustainable land use. On the environmental front, both Recycling “Binh” and The Green Algorithm offer innovative waste management solutions—one incentivising plastic bottle returns through reverse logistics, the other deploying smart bins and modular recycling hubs to reduce landfill waste. Meanwhile, The Griddy AI helps factories cut carbon emissions by automating operations based on real-time renewable energy forecasts. Together, these ideas highlight how AI can drive sustainable progress in Vietnam.

Phan Le Ngoc Trang, Investment Coordinator at LacBird Incubator and a member of the judging panel, expressed her admiration for all seven teams. She was particularly impressed by their eagerness to learn, their creativity, and their ability to apply critical thinking and AI technology to address sustainability issues.

“Even though not all students had a strong startup background, some teams went beyond just ideas and began building concrete models and development roadmaps,” Trang noted. “Crucially, their hands-on experiences in Vietnam ensured the proposals were incredibly relevant, seamlessly addressing local sustainability challenges and proving entirely feasible for the Vietnamese context.”

Cultivating Global Citizens towards a Sustainable Future

Moving beyond traditional educational models, this hackathon initiative immerses students in a transformative journey of learning, action, and real-world impact. It transcends the scope of a mere hackathon and fosters an entrepreneurial mindset for social impact, cultivating individuals who will leverage the power of AI to create a greener, more equitable future for Vietnam.

“In many ways, this aligns with our university’s focus on sustainability and global citizenship,” remarked Mrs. Cecilia Diaz Ordonez, Senior Lecturer from the University of Salford. “What used to be theory in the classroom is now becoming real-life experience. Students are seeing the impact with their own eyes—it’s transformative, and truly amazing.”

The strong emphasis on sustainability within this year’s Culture Immersion Programme highlights BUV’s unwavering commitment, woven into every aspect of the university. Green principles are seamlessly integrated across its architectural infrastructure, new developments, educational foundations, curricula, and student extracurricular activities. Furthermore, BUV champions inclusivity by creating job opportunities for people with disabilities and ensuring accessible facilities. These comprehensive efforts have earned BUV recognition as an EDGE-certified green campus, setting a benchmark for sustainable and responsible education in Vietnam.

With the vision to be viewed as the number one international university in Vietnam and the surrounding regions, Professor Rick Bennett, BUV Deputy Vice-Chancellor, emphasised the university’s goal of becoming one of the pioneering universities in Vietnam in “carbon neutrality”, spreading the sustainability message to the wider community.

“Beyond being a place for the transmission of knowledge, a university is also an environment that shapes the awareness and responsibility of the youth. We aim to create the most practical and positive model to inspire generations of students – talented young people who will play a leading role in the future environmental protection efforts of Vietnam,” affirmed Professor Rick Bennett.