More than just a competition, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow not only serves as a launchpad for breakthrough ideas but also brings positive changes to participating studentsMore than just a competition, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow not only serves as a launchpad for breakthrough ideas but also brings positive changes to participating students
Turning models into reality
Organized by Samsung, Solve for Tomorrow has long been a prominent global creative platform for secondary and high school students, encouraging them to apply STEM knowledge (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to address real-life social issues.
In Vietnam, since its launch in 2019, the competition has proven highly effective by bringing projects from paper into practical application, creating positive impacts across the North, Central, and South regions.
The organizers noted that more and more projects born from Samsung Solve for Tomorrow have been applied in reality, delivering tangible benefits to local communities. A prime example is the Agro Robot project by the Khóm Cầu Đúc team from Thuan An Secondary School in Hau Giang, which won First Prize in Category A in 2023. The product was designed to monitor, supervise, and assess the nutritional status of rice plants, helping farmers optimize crop care.
Currently, Agro Robot is being implemented on one hectare of winter–spring rice fields owned by farmer Tran Van Ut Nho in Hau Giang and has initially shown promising results.
After applying Agro Robot, Mr. Nho said: “This new technology model brings so many benefits. I can control the necessary amount of fertilizer, identify what nutrients the soil lacks or has in excess to adjust accordingly. Thanks to that, rice quality has improved significantly. With this model, I reduced a lot of fertilizer costs, which means more income. I hope this technology will be widely applied to help farmers save costs and increase income every year.”
Another standout project in Dong Thap is the Anti-plastic System – a model that stores and recognizes plastic bottles using YOLOv8 technology through a Camera Module, developed by the GreenLife team from Truong Xuan High School for Solve for Tomorrow 2024. The model is now applied within the school campus, detecting students using plastic bottles and notifying for collection, thereby raising environmental awareness.
“Previously, the amount of plastic waste in school was quite large. After applying the Anti-plastic System, plastic waste has decreased significantly. Almost no students bring plastic bottles into class anymore,” said Bui Cong Danh, Principal of Truong Xuan High School in Dong Thap.
In Central Vietnam, the Waste Sorting and Conversion System using AI and IoT by the SMART_ENP team (FPT Primary and Secondary School, Da Nang) – a Solve for Tomorrow 2024 participant – has been put into use at school. The solution helps janitors reduce effort in sorting waste while raising students’ awareness of waste separation.
At Nam Tu Liem Secondary School in Hanoi, where students often threw garbage in the wrong bins despite having separate containers for organic and inorganic waste, an application called Smartwaste was developed by the Green Kidvingers team (Solve for Tomorrow 2024). It has since been applied at the school, helping students easily recognize information and how to properly dispose of common types of waste.
Nguyen Khanh Vy, a 7th grader at Nam Tu Liem Secondary School, shared: “I find this app very easy to understand. The information helps me know where to throw trash and how it can be recycled.”
Values beyond the awards
Beyond community benefits, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow has also created profound changes within participating students themselves.
Once a shy student, Vu Tran Gia Huy – a member of the Khóm Cầu Đúc team in Hau Giang – surprised his parents with his transformation after joining Solve for Tomorrow.
“Huy is now much more confident, proactive, and mature. I was astonished and deeply happy to see such a remarkable change in my child. I truly appreciate and am grateful for the values Solve for Tomorrow has brought to students, including Huy. These values are even more precious than the awards,” shared Tran Thi Mong Thuy, Gia Huy’s mother.
For Nguyen Thi Yen Thu, a member of the GreenLife team (Truong Xuan High School, Dong Thap), the greatest value gained from Solve for Tomorrow was knowledge from online and offline workshops with mentors, along with hardware skills to improve their product. Soft skills from the program also helped her become more confident. Moreover, she had the opportunity to connect and communicate with peers from across the country.
Evaluating the program, teacher Mai Trong Huu from Thuan An Secondary School, Hau Giang, said: “Through the competition, students can strengthen skills such as communication, collaboration, teamwork, and project management, helping them discover their own creativity.”
Since its launch in 2019, more than 150,000 students have participated in and been trained through Samsung Solve for Tomorrow.
Mr. Na Ki Hong, President of Samsung Vietnam, emphasized: “Alongside economic contributions, Samsung has always strived to enhance support for building Vietnam’s fundamental competitiveness, especially by nurturing talent. As a leading technology enterprise committed to social responsibility, Samsung hopes Vietnamese youth will become technology talents – the ones who will lead the country’s development and shape the future of Vietnam.”
