The winners of Samsung Myanmar’s Samsung Innovation Campus 2024 (AI Hackathon) and Galaxy Campus Friends 2.0 programs, both designed to create opportunities for young people in Myanmar, have now been announced. The award ceremony to announce and honor the winners was held on August 31, 2024, and also saw Samsung introduce the “Light and Sleek Galaxy A06” to the Myanmar market — a new phone with an upgraded touch-and-go Side Fingerprint sensor for enhanced security, in a lighter design.
The event was a resounding success, filled with exciting moments, and brought together professional content creators who supported the Galaxy Campus Friends 2.0 program, including Ko Kyant (Toly Moly) and Phyo Pa Pa Aung (Phyopapa Blogs), along with partner organizations, judges, and mentors of the Samsung Innovation Campus 2024 (AI Hackathon), the young participants of both programs, members of the press, and special invited guests.
Image: Samsung
The Samsung Innovation Campus 2024 (AI Hackathon) program, a great opportunity for young people passionate about AI, drew more than 600 applicants. From these, 50 selected young people received 40 hours of free, comprehensive AI training. Once training was complete, 11 teams competed in the AI Hackathon, using AI technology to build apps and projects across a wide range of fields, from food and beauty to education, aimed at benefiting the environment and communities.
Image: Samsung
After three days of intense competition in the AI Hackathon, Samsung Myanmar awarded a prize pool worth over 6 million Kyats (60 lakhs) to the following teams:
- Team IT Pout Sa deservedly won first prize of 3 million Kyats (30 lakhs) with their Freshify project, which uses an AI model to determine the freshness of fruits.
- Team IntelliGuides won second prize of 2 million Kyats (20 lakhs) with their Food Delivery project, aimed at improving public health and safety while reducing human-to-human interaction.
- Team Neepanyar Pouthpaw won third prize of 1 million Kyats (10 lakhs) with their Sarrmal (Food Recommender and Calorie Analyzer) project, which recommends healthy foods aligned with users’ health needs.
Image: Samsung
Team IT Pout Sa, who took home first prize, said: “We’re incredibly happy to have won. We’re deeply grateful to Samsung for organizing an event like this, and to all the organizers, instructors, mentors, and judges who supported us throughout. We’re proud to have been able to share our team’s ideas and win this award. Going forward, we’ll continue building AI-powered systems like this to contribute to the SDGs and community development.”
Team IntelliGuides also shared: “We’re really happy to have won 1st Runner-Up. We’re deeply grateful to Samsung, Myanmar Cyber Youths, and Tee Htwin, who provided the main support for helping young people like us with opportunities and career development, as well as to all the judges, mentors, and everyone else who supported us. Going forward, we’ll keep working with our team members to build the best possible AI technology that benefits people.”
Image: Samsung
Team Neepanyar Pouthpaw also shared their heartfelt thoughts: “We gained a lot of experience and grew our skills by taking part in this event, and we won thanks to the hard work of our team members. We’re deeply grateful to every team member who worked tirelessly day and night, and to everyone who worked hard to make this event a success. We also want to say that we’ll keep taking part in programs like this and keep working on AI technology that benefits people.”
The Samsung Innovation Campus 2024 (AI Hackathon) program ran for three months with Myanmar Cyber Youths and Tee Htwin – CSR as lead organizing partners alongside Samsung Myanmar, helping strengthen the capabilities of participating youth and creating valuable opportunities and experiences for them.
Image: Samsung
The Galaxy Campus Friends 2.0 program is also being run in other countries besides Myanmar, and this marked its second run in Myanmar. Under the theme “Open Your Universe,” participants shared their dreams through each stage of the competition, and five winners emerged after making it through to the final round. Those who won by creating great content, effectively presenting their ideas, and winning the most votes from the public were Linn Htet Aung, Kaung Khant Kyaw, Thiri Htet Htet Oo, Shwan Yadanar, and Htut Eaindra Aung (Emilie).
The five winners of the Galaxy Campus Friends 2.0 program also shared their thoughts and words of encouragement:
- Linn Htet Aung said, “Give it everything you’ve got to make your dreams a reality. Don’t be afraid of what you have to give up to succeed.”
- Kaung Khant Kyaw also shared: “Whatever happens, don’t give up. Keep going. No matter what came up, I kept pushing forward with the mindset of doing what needed to be done to make my goal a reality.”
- Thiri Htet Htet Oo said, “If you believe in yourself and keep pushing forward without giving up, you can achieve anything. Dream big, work hard, and embrace the journey. This win represents the power of hard work and passion.”
- Shwan Yadanar shared: “You don’t need to have just one single goal. Walk boldly and persistently toward what you’re aiming for, and eventually you’ll reach success.”
- And Htut Eaindra Aung (Emilie) said, “I’ve become a Campus Ambassador for the Samsung Galaxy Campus Friends 2.0 Program, which will help me as I work toward becoming a great content creator. I consider it one of the happiest milestones of my life. I want to keep learning and creating even better content. Thank you to Samsung Galaxy Campus MM for making this program happen.”
Image: Samsung
To win a spot in the Galaxy Campus Friends 2.0 program, participants first had to compete to make it into the top 20 from the initial round. From there, they attended workshop sessions and interviews with professional content creators Ko Kyant (Toly Moly), Phyo Pa Pa Aung (Phyopapa Blogs), and Lwin Gyi (Do Something Plz), and worked hard to be chosen for the final round of competition.
At the award ceremony, the five Galaxy Campus Friends 2.0 winners each received a Samsung Galaxy A35 phone, a Galaxy Campus Friend Winner Certificate, and a collaboration fee of 200,000 Kyats a month for a three-month partnership with Samsung, along with other special privileges such as invitations to exclusive Samsung events.
Alongside the award ceremony, filled with exciting moments, the event also saw the introduction of the latest “Light and Sleek Galaxy A06″ smartphone to the Myanmar market. Built to be lighter and slimmer, with security enhanced through a Side Fingerprint sensor that unlocks instantly with just a touch, the Galaxy A06 also comes with high-performance features including a 6.7” display, a 50MP rear camera, a 5,000mAh battery, and a Helio G85 processor. With its slimmer design and eye-catching looks, the Galaxy A06 is available in Light Green, Light Blue, and Black at the following prices:
- Galaxy A06 LTE (6/128 GB) – 829,000 Kyats
- Galaxy A06 LTE (4/128 GB) – 739,000 Kyats
- Galaxy A06 LTE (4/64 GB) – 585,000 Kyats
Image: Samsung
Buyers of the Galaxy A06 smartphone will also receive additional gifts — a fast charger, phone cover, and earphones, while supplies last — along with Samsung Care+ coverage, which entitles them to a one-time claim within one year of purchase for 100% off the service fee and parts cost for back screen damage, or 60% off the service fee and parts cost for front screen damage. Owners of the Samsung Galaxy J Series, or any Galaxy A Series phone released from 2022 to the present, can also trade in their old phone toward a Galaxy A06 purchase and receive an additional 70,000 Kyats trade-in discount on top of their old phone’s value.
“We’re proud and delighted to have successfully run the Samsung Innovation Campus 2024 – AI Hackathon and Galaxy Campus Friends 2.0 programs, both created to build opportunities for young people in Myanmar. It’s been a joy to provide great experiences for every young person who took part in these programs, and it was just as exciting to see the winners announced. Samsung Myanmar will keep striving to run more programs like this that benefit the public. We also believe the newly introduced Galaxy A06 smartphone, with features that Samsung fans will find useful and enjoyable, will help make users’ everyday tasks easier,” said Ko Tin Maung Win, Head of the Mobile Experience Group at Samsung Myanmar.
To stay up to date on Samsung Myanmar’s great programs and products, you can follow the Samsung Myanmar Facebook Page.