UPSHIFT Vietnam: Impact through Incubation

Members of the four final teams with their mentors and the UPSHIFT team, including Mr. Jesper Moller, Deputy Representative at UNICEF Vietnam
UPSHIFT Demo Day © UNICEF/Innovations Lab Ho Chi Minh/UPSHIFT Demo Day/ Tran Thanh Son/ May 2016

In our last update, we had selected 5 teams to join the UPSHIFT Incubator for 3 months. During incubation teams participated in additional training sessions, received a small seed fund to kick start their project, and ongoing mentorship. They also had the benefit of access to a network of supporters and periodic events through Viet Youth Entrepreneurs (VYE). All these factors combined to support these teams take their concept to reality.

Co-creation Workshop in Viet Nam Seeks to Solve Serious Global Problems with Wearable and Sensors

While Viet Nam is well known for its ICT community, a recent UNICEF workshop focused on understanding how to apply technology, not how to build it. Built on a series of “what if” questions, the UNICEF Innovation Lab in Viet Nam asked; What if we could get a room full of smart people with different backgrounds and expertise to focus on a grand challenge to accelerate the use of technology to make a positive impact on the lives of children? What if we could inspire these innovators with a new world of possibilities? The ask built on the Wearables for Good design challenge that was launched earlier this year by UNICEF, ARM and frog.

In designing the Viet Nam event, there were collaborative inputs from the local maker community, agile developers, design thinking & creative professionals and even the venue was a community based art education facility. And the results were astounding.