LAOS Mekong River Commission awards four prizes to innovative university projects

The fourth summit of the international organization that brings together Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand concluded yesterday in Vientiane. For the first time, a competition for young people was organized. Prizes of $5,000 and $1,000 were awarded to models that use sensor technology to monitor watershed parameters.

Vientiane () – The Mekong River Commission has announced the winners of the first contest for the development of sensor monitoring technology, open to university students from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, some of the main countries covered by the course of water and that integrate the international organization.

Within the framework of the fourth Mekong Sustainability Summit, which was held from April 2 to 5 in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, an international jury awarded four prizes of $5,000 to three Cambodian teams and one Laotian team. Four other prizes of $1,000 were awarded to projects that received honorable mentions.

The Mekong River Commission was created in 1995 as a platform for diplomacy and cooperation to propose solutions for sustainable development and technological self-sufficiency in the region of the river basin, an area of ​​810,000 square kilometers.

“Solutions from the Mekong for the Mekong”, was the motto proposed by some of the participants to describe the contest aimed at university students, who on March 30 and 31, before the conference, presented models capable of measuring and controlling the level of water, rainfall, soil moisture or water quality.

According to Santi Baran, the Commission’s Head of Strategy and Alliances, the students made an invaluable contribution to the riverside towns. There are some 250 monitoring stations throughout the river basin, but they often use foreign technology that is expensive and difficult to maintain. “When we started this experience, we had one thing in mind: how to reduce monitoring costs,” Baran said. “We knew that it had to be the young people, with all the innovations in their hands, who could really make a difference if we gave them a chance. And nobody can do a better job than the young people who are here today. They have shown that people Mekong can produce technology itself and here on the Mekong soil,” he added.

The contest had formally started in October last year, after 15 teams from as many universities were selected to work under the supervision of their professors. The most promising projects also received a grant of $800. When evaluating the projects, the judges were also impressed by the diversity within the teams, both in terms of gender and background: 34 women and 36 men participated from the faculties of mathematics, engineering, physics, hydrology, environmental sciences, computer science, oceanography and meteorology.

“After participating in this contest, we realized that no one else can help us if we don’t help ourselves first,” said Solita Pon from the Cambodia Academy of Digital Technology. “This contest is a great opportunity for Mekong youth to step up and address the challenges of the river. It allowed us to express our innovative ideas as well as our feelings, because we care not only about our river, but also about our planet.”