HÀ NỘI — Practical AI applications took centre stage at the Vietnam AI Innovation Challenge (VAIC) 2026 on Sunday, with participants showcasing solutions for sectors ranging from law and education to finance, public services, reflecting Việt Nam's growing focus on turning AI research into products for real-world use.

The winning team, L-GPT 6.7, impressed judges with Lawgic, a legal analysis platform that combines large language models with knowledge graph technology to enhance legal reasoning and information retrieval. The project received the competition's top award of US$10,000.

Second place went to Genation for Tangent, an AI platform that converts users' questions into visual learning materials, while SenAI claimed third prize with a real-time English-Vietnamese translation system.

The annual competition concluded after a 48-hour hackathon that attracted nearly 1,500 contestants from 340 teams across the country.

Participants developed AI-powered prototypes under the guidance of industry experts before presenting their products to an international judging panel during the final Demo Day.

Unlike many earlier AI competitions that focused primarily on research or algorithm development, organisers said this year's entries demonstrated a stronger emphasis on practical deployment.

Many of the projects targeted challenges faced by businesses, public services and local authorities, with judges assessing not only technological innovation but also commercial potential and real-world applicability.

Dr Trần Thế Hùng, co-founder and chief executive officer of AI for Việt Nam – one of the competition organisers, said the competition was intended to bridge businesses and young innovators rather than simply identify winning AI solutions.

He said the goal was to help promising ideas evolve into products with practical applications. Hùng added that the greatest achievement of VAIC was not the prizes but the perseverance shown by participants, many of whom worked continuously throughout the 48-hour hackathon to complete their projects.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Director of the National Innovation Centre (NIC) Vũ Quốc Huy said the quality of this year's projects reflected the growing maturity of Việt Nam's AI ecosystem and the increasing capability of young Vietnamese engineers to develop solutions with commercial potential.

He said the centre would continue supporting promising teams through incubation and accelerator programmes, providing access to innovation facilities and connecting them with businesses, investors and domestic and international partners to help bring their products to market.

The judging panel brought together leading AI experts from Việt Nam and abroad, including William Tjhi of AI Singapore, Hồ Tú Bảo of the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM) and Nguyễn Cẩm Tú of Nanjing University among others.

Projects were evaluated on innovation, technical capability, practical application and commercial potential.

The organisers said the challenge forms part of efforts to implement the Politburo's Resolution No 57 on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation by fostering AI talent and strengthening collaboration between policymakers, universities, research institutions and businesses.

Beyond identifying promising AI developers, the competition aims to accelerate the commercialisation of AI applications and strengthen Việt Nam's innovation ecosystem through closer links between research and industry.

Organisers said the hackathon model enables participants to rapidly test ideas, develop prototypes and refine products with direct input from experienced mentors and technology specialists.

Trương Quốc Anh, director of digital banking at Saigon – Hanoi Joint Stock Bank (SHB), said the bank had submitted real business challenges for contestants to solve, reflecting growing demand from enterprises for deployable AI applications.

He said SHB hoped competitions such as VAIC would help identify solutions that could be adapted for use in banking.

This year's competition was jointly organised by the National Innovation Centre, Meta, AI for Vietnam, FPT and Duy Tan University. — VNS