Google has hosted the “Growing Together with Google AI” forum in Ho Chi Minh City, showcasing 10 practical AI projects developed by Vietnamese innovators through the AI Riser Vietnam 2026 initiative. The event brought together nearly 500 participants and also highlighted new research from the Applied AI Lab, a collaboration between the Google AI Futures Fund and Saigon AI Hub.
Google has brought together developers, researchers, educators, students, content creators and representatives from local organizations in Ho Chi Minh City for a forum focused on the growing use of artificial intelligence in Vietnam.
Held under the theme “Growing Together with Google AI,” the event featured demonstrations of 10 projects developed locally through AI Riser Vietnam 2026, highlighting how generative AI and multimodal technologies can be adapted to address practical challenges in areas such as education, digital safety, business and everyday life.
The forum attracted nearly 500 participants, reflecting the expanding interest in AI development beyond traditional technology communities.
AI Riser Vietnam receives 750 project submissions
Launched in August as a nationwide innovation challenge, AI Riser Vietnam 2026 was organized in collaboration with local Google Developer Groups (GDGs) and partners across Vietnam’s technology ecosystem.
The initiative encouraged participants to experiment with natural-language-driven application development using Google’s Gemini models and Google AI Studio. The approach was designed to lower some of the technical barriers traditionally associated with building software, allowing participants with different levels of development experience to turn ideas into working prototypes.
The program included 10 community and hands-on events in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, attracting more than 10,000 participants both online and in person. A panel of 32 professional judges, together with 12 ecosystem partners, evaluated a total of 750 projects built with Google AI Studio.
Ten projects were ultimately selected to present their solutions during the Demo Day. The audience’s three most popular projects were ĐÚNG NƠI by Bành Thị Ngọc Trúc, Project InnoVerse by Nguyễn Minh Hoàng, and SightBridge AI by Phạm Văn Mạnh.
ĐÚNG NƠI focuses on helping people navigate Vietnam’s health insurance system. The project aims to use AI to estimate medical treatment costs and guide users toward healthcare facilities that may be appropriate for their conditions.
The other selected projects demonstrated different applications of AI, illustrating the breadth of use cases emerging from Vietnam’s developer and innovation communities.
According to Marc Woo, General Manager of Google Vietnam, the initiative is intended to make advanced technologies more accessible to local creators and developers. He highlighted the range of ideas submitted during AI Riser Vietnam 2026 as evidence of how Vietnamese innovators are using natural-language interfaces and multimodal AI to build solutions targeting real-world needs.
Applied AI Lab highlights research projects
The Ho Chi Minh City forum also featured updates from the Applied AI Lab, an initiative established through a collaboration between the Google AI Futures Fund and Saigon AI Hub (SAIH).
Saigon AI Hub was co-founded by VNG Group and Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, with a focus on connecting AI research with practical applications.
Through the Applied AI Lab program, 10 research teams participating in the first cohort gained early access to Google’s latest AI technologies and received technical support from specialists at Google and Google DeepMind during the development of their research projects and prototypes.
The first cohort brought together nearly 60 researchers from universities across Ho Chi Minh City. Their projects covered a broad range of areas, including healthcare and cancer prevention, Vietnamese-language technology, multimodal AI, computer vision, human-robot interaction and XR/MR technologies.
Following the first cohort, Saigon AI Hub has launched its second cohort with a more problem-driven approach. The organization plans to identify and select practical challenges before connecting them with research teams whose expertise is suited to developing, testing and evaluating potential solutions.
Google expands AI and digital skills training
Beyond developer programs and research initiatives, Google has also expanded its digital skills activities in Vietnam through partnerships with government agencies, organizations and industry associations.
The company said these programs have helped more than 100,000 people in Vietnam build digital capabilities through training ranging from introductory to advanced levels.
The initiatives showcased at the Ho Chi Minh City forum reflect a broader shift in the local AI ecosystem, from experimentation with generative AI toward applications designed to address specific needs.
From AI Riser Vietnam’s community-driven development model to the research activities of Applied AI Lab, the programs demonstrate how developers, researchers and other technology communities in Vietnam are increasingly exploring AI across education, healthcare, accessibility, business and other areas of daily life.