“Students with creative ideas and start-ups” Contest was organized by Department of Student Affairs - HCMC Open University which took place from March 26, 2021 to August 8, 2021. After more than 4 months of implementation, the organizers had received 23 projects of 76 students, with many creative ideas and projects in many different fields. These projects are meaningful to improve the quality of life and sustainably develop our social community. The production projects therein are associated with environmental protection and applications are developed to protect children and consumers.

“Students with creative ideas and start-ups 2021” Contest is a useful and healthy playground which creates an environment for students to develop their entrepreneurship spirit and innovation through practical projects. The new point of the Contest is the appearance of the 2^nd Round – “Knowledge and Entrepreneurial skills Training” after passing the 1^st Round – “Ideas Registration”. Accordingly, the 2^nd Round helps candidates master the necessary knowledge and finalize the project better in the 3^rd Round – “Project completion”. In Round 3, the Examiner Board graded and selected 12 teams with excellent projects proceed to Final Round.

Accompanying the contestants is the examiners with knowledge of the field of business and entrepreneurship: Mr. Vo Hung Son - Head of Department of Science and Technology Management, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology; Ms. Ton Nu Xuan Quyen - Founder of BLUSaigon; Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh - Deputy Head of Department of Student Affairs, in charge of supporting students’ start-ups, lecturer of Vietnam - Finland Innovation Partnership Programme (IPP).

At this year's contest, despite the challenges of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Organizers received a lot of attention from students along with a higher number of projects compared to 2020. At the same time, the Organizer also actively adapted to the epidemic context, not only ensure the contestants’ safety but also spread the meaning of the program to a large audience when organizing and broadcasting the Final Round live on the Department of Student Affairs Fanpage - Ho Chi Minh City Open University on August 7, 2021 and in the morning of August 8, 2021 via Zoom meeting application. Thereby, the candidates had opportunities to introduce and present their ideas to the Organizer as well as listen to comments and suggestions which help to gain more experience to improve their projects in the future.

Dr. Le Nguyen Quoc Khang - Vice President of the University shared: Nobody can affirm that they can achieve success on their first time, keep your spirits up, follow your passion, stay determined and persistent with your goal and projects. This year's contest is really a useful environment, linking professional knowledge into real life, good learning environment for all students. This is also a typical example in “Practice in Learning” movement of HCMCOU to provide learners a more comprehensive view of studying, running business projects so as to promote creativity and innovation, preserve the “Dare to think, dare to do” spirit and implement startup ideas.

Representative of the examiners, Mr. Vo Hung Son - Head of Department of Science and Technology management, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology shared: I hope you will learn more through the contest and gain rich knowledge and skills for yourself. Those who have the idea of ​​starting a business, please nurture and persistently develop it, the University and I personally will always support you to participate in competitions, organize start-up associations, consult learners for effective and feasible ideas for a successful business.

The Final Round of “Students with creative ideas and start-ups” Contest in 2021 has ended with results as follows:

• 1^st prize belongs to Team 1 with “Gramz” project

• 2^nd prize belongs to Team 16 with “Connecting Values - Reaching the Future” project

• 3^rd prize belongs to Team 9 with “Handmade Soap Bars – Gifts from nature” project

• Consolation prize: Team 7 "The Production and Wholesale of Products from Robusta coffee " and Team 12 with the project of "Research and Wholesale of Products from Red Dragon Fruit".

The best projects will represent HCMCOU to participate in the “Students with creative ideas and start-ups” Contest organized by the Ministry of Education and Training.