Manufacturing
Apply AI to improve production quality, operational efficiency and resilience.
Examples: Quality inspection · Predictive maintenance · Process optimization
01 / THE HUB
An open community for AI research & development.
Saigon AI Hub (SAIH) brings researchers, academics and domain experts together to advance AI research and explore its practical value.
We connect research talent with expertise, infrastructure and opportunities to develop rigorous AI research with practical value.
OUR VISION
Advance AI research intoreal-world impact for Vietnam.
We support scientific contributions and the development of research ideas into practical applications.
How research creates value
Scientific and technical depth
Develop clear research questions, test methods against relevant baselines and produce evidence that others can assess and build on.
Validation in real-world settings
Work with domain experts to test whether research outcomes address the intended problem, using relevant data and agreed evaluation criteria.
Our collaboration principles
01
Openness
Share knowledge and contribute to the community.
02
Voluntary participation
Join by choice. Collaborate with shared purpose.
03
Clear rights & responsibilities
Establish transparent agreements on research contributions, intellectual property and the use of results.
04
Ethics & integrity
Uphold research ethics and academic integrity.
05
Legal compliance
Follow national regulations and the applicable legal framework.
Resources to move research forward
SAIH brings together infrastructure, scientific guidance and community connections to help researchers develop, test and share their work.
Workspace & computing infrastructure
Workspace at VNG Campus and access to computing infrastructure support research and experimentation. Project resources are agreed according to research needs.
Mentorship & technical exchange
Research guidance from SAIH’s Executive Board and opportunities to exchange ideas with experts from universities, industry, and partner organizations.
Knowledge sharing & collaboration
Meet-ups, workshops and peer learning connect research teams with experts and new perspectives.
Research visibility & connections
Opportunities to share research through publications, conferences and community events, and to connect with academic and industry partners.
SAIH’s collaboration with Google Labs through its AI Futures Fund creates opportunities for technology access and technical exchange, alongside the research and industry networks of VNG Group and VNUHCM.
Explore the partnership02 / COHORT 2Call for Challenges · Now open
Deep research.Real challenges.Meaningful impact.
For Cohort 2, Saigon AI Hub connects real-world challenges from enterprises and the public sector with strong AI research teams, supporting their collaboration through shared resources, agreed milestones and real-world validation.
We begin by selecting meaningful challenges with committed owners, then invite research teams to propose approaches to address them.
Agriculture
Develop AI approaches that improve productivity, support decisions and enable more sustainable agricultural practices.
Examples: Crop monitoring · Disease detection · Yield prediction
Climate Change
Advance AI research that strengthens climate monitoring, adaptation and environmental resilience.
Examples: Climate intelligence · Disaster risk · Environmental monitoring
National Challenges
Connect AI research with challenges of national significance, developing solutions with the potential for broad adoption across Vietnam.
How it works
- 01Source challenges
Identify meaningful problems with committed owners.
- 02Confirm & scope
Agree on the problem, domain support and conditions for research.
- 03Open Research Call
Invite research teams to propose approaches to selected briefs.
- 04Match teams
Select teams with the research depth and expertise each challenge needs.
Who can participate?
Challenge Owners
Enterprises, government agencies and public-sector organizations with a meaningful problem and a commitment to work toward a solution.
Participation requirements
- Define the problem and the value of addressing it.
- Assign an accountable sponsor and a domain expert who works with the team throughout the project.
- Provide relevant data or access and an environment for validation.
- Work with the research team throughout the project.
Research Teams
AI research groups and interdisciplinary teams with the scientific depth and technical capability to address selected challenges.
Participation requirements
- Propose a rigorous approach suited to the challenge.
- Plan feasible experiments and agreed research outputs.
- Collaborate directly with the Challenge Owner’s domain expert.
- Deliver milestones and evaluate results in context.
Research Call opens in December 2026. Selected challenge briefs and application requirements will be published then.
Six months to develop and validate research
Cohort 2 will select projects with scientific outputs and real-world validation as shared goals.
Define & Build
Establish the research question, baseline, data requirements and technical approach.
Direction review
Research & Build
Conduct experiments and develop scientific outputs, prototypes or technology.
Progress review
Validate
Evaluate scientific and technical results with domain experts and evidence from the intended application context.
Outcome review
The path to Cohort 2
- 01
Call for Challenges
8 October 2026 · Now openBring a real-world problem in one of the four priority areas.
- 02
Develop challenges
October–November 2026Clarify scope, confirm owner commitments and prepare research-ready briefs.
- 03
Open Research Call
December 2026Publish selected challenges and invite research teams to propose approaches.
- 04
Review & match
January 2027Assess proposals, meet shortlisted teams and match them with Challenge Owners.
- 05
Cohort 2 Research Kick-off
February 2027Agree on scope and milestones, then begin the six-month research cycle.
Cohort 2 collaboration terms
- Project intellectual property is jointly owned by the Research Team and Challenge Owner under the agreed project terms.
- A successful pilot operates in the Challenge Owner’s real environment, uses real data and has its results confirmed by the Challenge Owner.
- Projects complete active support at Month 6. An approved extension requires a committed partner or co-funder, a defined next milestone and a fixed duration of up to three months.
Have a meaningful problem for AI research?
Bring a Challenge03 / HIGHLIGHTSCohort 1 · Launched March 2026
A community growing through research.
Launched in March 2026, Cohort 1 explored diverse AI research topics and developed early applications. Cohort 2 builds on this foundation by bringing problem owners and domain experts into the research process from the start.
Nearly60researchers
Cohort 110research teams
Cohort 1 research journey6months
Progress in research. Steps toward real-world use.
Academic research
Scientific papers, publications, and contributions to international research conferences.
Applied innovation
Early demonstrations and working prototypes that provide a basis for further testing and development in real-world settings.
SMALL WINS
International recognition The Deepfake Detection team placed fourth in the NTIRE 2026 Deepfake Detection Challenge, with a paper accepted at the NTIRE workshop at CVPR 2026.
Research exchange Lumina-HT2 was accepted at ICMR 2026. The Vietnamese Multimodal Emotion team had a paper accepted and presented at FLINS–ISKE.
Early working prototypes Teams developed early applications including Vietnamese speech separation, multimedia retrieval and AI-powered virtual reality experiences.
Closer to application Teams demonstrated prototypes and discussed user needs, product roadmaps, and commercialization potential with industry experts.
Saigon AI Hub
From research meet-ups and poster discussions to Live Tinkering sessions with industry experts, SAIH teams share progress, learn from one another, and bring research outcomes closer to real-world applications.
