Beating 31 entrants from prestigious universities worldwide, Nguyen The Quynh Nhi and Vo Truong Hoang Linh from Da Nang’s Duy Tan University took the 1^st prize in the basic design category at the 2013 CDIO Academy competition for their project “Cheap Homemade Water Filtration Products for Rural People”.  In addition, they also won the CDIO Academy Cup in the categories for both basic and advanced design projects. 

This year’s competition, which had “Innovative Applications of Design and Technology” as its theme, took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard University in the USA from 9 - 11 June. 

Quynh Nhi and Hoang Linh introducing their products to the competition judges

The idea for their project came from the scarcity of clean and safe drinking water in the poor mountainous parts of their Quang Nam Province home area, whilst modern water purifiers are very expensive.  Therefore, both Nhi and Linh wanted to make cheaper products to help the local poor have access to clean water supplies.

During their product manufacturing process, they faced many difficulties because they have never made similar products before.  After taking full advantage of locally available cheap materials, including clay, laterites and husks, as well as the dedicated help of craftsmen from Hoi An’s Thanh Ha Pottery Village, they completed their product as they expected.

With the hope of bringing practical benefits to the poor, they are now trying to find out how to bring their products into the daily lives of local residents.  Their focus will be on launching their high quality products and selling them at as reasonable a price as possible.