2 PROJECTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY ACHIEVED THE AWARD “IMPACTFUL SOCIAL INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS” FROM SOCIAL BUSINESS CREATION 2021
In the evening of July 26th 2021, the Social Business Creation 2021 announced top 5 projects to receive the award “Impactful Social Innovative Concepts”. Among them are 2 projects of the International University (IU-VNU). Top 5 includes 3 projects from Vietnam, 1 from Mexico and 1 from Argentina.
Social Business Creation 2021 is held and profession ensured by HEC Montréal Canada (HEC) and professor Muhammad Yunus, who won a Nobel Peace prize in 2006.
On July 12th 2021, 2 projects from IU-VNU namely NANONEEM and BRAIN ANALYTICS were placed in TOP 30% in the South East Asia region to compete in the global competition.
Nanoneem Teammates – who achieved the highest score in the semifinal
NANONEEM focuses on researching herb-based pesticides for green agriculture. The project’s goal is to protect neem forests while assisting local people. This project is led by Dr. Dương Nguyễn Hồng Nhung (lecturer from School of Biotechnology) along with students from School of Biotechnology, IU-VNU and students from Foreign Trade University in Ha Noi. The project scored 91/100, which was the highest in the semifinal. (More detail of the project: https://socialbusinesscreation.hec.ca/competing-projects/sbc2021_139_vn_nanon/)
Dr. Hà Thị Thanh Hương – Head of Department of Regenerative Medicine – School of Biomedical, IU-VNU – guide of the project Brain Analytics
BRAIN ANALYTICS is a website platform implemented with artificial intelligence (AI) to support in detecting Alzheimer’s disease. The project is run by a group of students from School of Biomedical, IU-VNU, represented by Phạm Thị Như Trang and guided by Dr. Hà Thị Thanh Hương (lecturer, Head of Department of Regenerative Medicine – School of Biomedical). The project scored 79.5/100. (More detail of the project: https://socialbusinesscreation.hec.ca/competing-projects/sbc2021_109_vn_brain/)
Phạm Thị Như Trang – School of Biomedical – representative of Brain Analytics
One of the Judges said: “I’ve referenced your project over the last few weeks during my own lectures on AI and it’s relevant in our society. This is a great use case and I wish you all the best in continuing on this journey. Very impressive work for a great cause.”
Entering the Grand Final, 5 projects have started to be evaluated by the judges. With sponsorship from Scotiabank and many other international organizations, Social Business Creation 2021 is a promising land for the social-impacted business ideas.
The structure of the competition:
ENTRY: Teams enter the competition with a social mission idea.
Round 1 – SOCIAL INNOVATION ROUND (March and April 2021): Teams examine the root causes of their target social issues and ideate social solutions.
Round 2 – BUSINESS INNOVATION ROUND (May and June 2021): Teams prototype business models based on the social solutions that they come up with from their continual social innovation process since the beginning of the competition.
Semifinal – EXECUTION AND SCALE-UP ROUND (July 2021): Teams showcase their ability to execute their social business model.
GRAND FINAL (Last week of September in Montreal, Canada): Teams showcase their ability to scale up their business and social impacts.
Prizes:
– Scotiabank Prize: CA$ 30.000 plus CA$ 4.200 for MOSAIC Summer school;
– Second Prize: CA$ 15.000 plus CA$ 4,200 for MOSAIC Summer school;
– Third Prize: CA$ 5.000 plus CA$ 4.200 for MOSAIC Summer school;
– Awards of “Innovative Social Business Concept” for 5 projects from Round 2 to enter semifinal: CA$ 10.000 (CA$ 2.000 for each);
– Awards of “Impactful Social Business Idea” for 20 projects from Round 1 to enter Round 2: Certificate;
– 5 awards of “Best Consulting Report”: Certificate.