Applying technology to serve Vietnamese people and serve humanity

There is a very special Vietnamese enterprise that is cherishing the aspiration of bringing artificial intelligence (AI) application platforms and famous Vietnamese mathematical works to the world technology map.

Convergence of knowledge from leading scientists

“At today's event, we bring some unique solutions from CTOptimal based on artificial intelligence (AI) and optimization algorithms to solve 3 "problems" including Logistics, Healthcare and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles). This platform is the result of many years of scientific research, with optimization algorithms that have won international awards and were researched and developed by leading professors of French origin,” said the introduction of Mr. Dang Phu, Director of Global Business Development of CTOptimal, at the Vietnam International Innovation Exhibition 2023, attracting the attention of many people, including us.

CTOptimal's booth at Vietnam International Innovation Exhibition 2023.

Taking advantage of the lunch break, when the exhibition visitors had left, we met Mr. Phu with the hope of learning more interesting things about the "newbie" CTOptimal in the "village" of Vietnamese technology enterprises.

After the greeting, Mr. Phu quickly introduced his Group in general: After more than 30 years of development, CT Group has made its mark on the public as a multi-industry corporation, recently shifting its focus more towards technology, with 6 major technology sectors including: Healthcare, Artificial Intelligence, Green Cryptocurrency, Genes & Cells, New Energy, and Quantum Computing.

“CTOptimal is a member company of CT Group, headquartered in France, with branches in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi , with the participation of many leading professors of the French Academy, especially mathematicians, along with a team of experts and experienced IT engineers transferring applied mathematical works into software. The idea of ​​establishing CTOptimal originated from the cherished thoughts of Mr. Tran Kim Chung, Chairman of CT Group. For a long time, Mr. Chung thought that Vietnam had many scientists with world-class scientific works, but many of them had not been applied in practice to solve specific “problems” serving Vietnam and humanity,” Mr. Phu quickly outlined the special features of his business.

Mr. Dang Phu, Global Business Development Director of CTOptimal.

CTOptimal's "own path" is to bring famous Vietnamese scientific works into specific products, develop a range of technology products focusing on almost untapped market segments, spread these products to contribute to promoting and affirming the mark of Vietnamese intelligence and Vietnamese technology on the world map, contributing to digital transformation, green transformation, and sustainable development globally.

Focus on solving 3 big "problems"

Referring to the "core values ​​of the enterprise", Mr. Phu immediately showed off CTOptimal's most favorite AI platforms.

First of all, the DCALog platform, an AI platform for logistics operations, is rated as having the world's Top 5 optimal speed and efficiency.

DCALog applies AI and DCA optimization algorithm to solve the “problem” of transportation and warehousing. DC planning and DCA optimization algorithm are internationally awarded mathematical works by Vietnamese professors and doctors.

In fact, every day, e-commerce and logistics businesses have to deliver thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of orders. Each order contains a lot of information such as customers, delivery addresses, delivered items, etc. They have to operate a large number of trucks to transport goods, which will be quite a headache in optimizing routes to increase truck occupancy rates, minimize costs and resources for the supply chain.

DCALog applies the DCA optimization algorithm, an internationally awarded mathematical work by Vietnamese professors and doctors.

CTOptimal's DCALog platform has been tested at a retail chain of more than 500 supermarkets in Hanoi, with more than 2,000 orders to be delivered every day, using an average of about 130 heterogeneous trucks (2 tons, 5 tons, 10 tons...).

“We put it into operation for 1 month and have compared it to evaluate its effectiveness. Compared to the customer's existing solution, DCALog runs many times faster, calculating cost savings of more than 23%. Compared to IBM CPLEX (one of the world's leading optimization platforms), on the same data set, in the same context, DCALog runs on average 10 times faster, and the calculation cost is 14% lower on average. This impressive result is due to CTOptimal's unique proprietary optimization algorithm,” Mr. Phu stated a series of figures highlighting the advantages of DCALog.

The second "problem" that CTOptimal focuses on solving is in the healthcare sector, initially focusing on cardiovascular issues.

According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021, on average, more than 20 million people die each year globally from cardiovascular diseases, of which 80% are related to stroke. “The consequences of stroke are catastrophic, and the age of people with stroke is getting younger and younger. Stroke is actually completely capable of being warned early. With the AEM System model (automatic electrocardiogram monitoring system), based on the patient's electrocardiogram (ECG) data, the AI ​​system will analyze the data and give warnings about the possibility of stroke as well as some other cardiovascular diseases,” Mr. Phu described.

CTOptimal has solutions to support the operations of hospitals and medical facilities, and also has healthcare solutions for individual users.

AEM System targets two customer groups: The first group is hospitals and medical facilities. CTOptimal's technology platform will be integrated into the hospital's electrocardiogram system. After AI analyzes the results, doctors will have more multi-dimensional information to advise and diagnose patients more accurately and effectively. The second group is end users. CTOptimal will develop an app on smartphones (Smart Watch), which can run on iOS or Android platforms. This app helps users periodically measure electrocardiograms, provides regular data, and supports the creation of monitoring regimens. In case the user is at risk of stroke, the app has the function of warning relatives or personal doctors, or can call emergency forces for timely treatment, minimizing the dire consequences caused by stroke.

To have a large data set for AI analysis, CTOptimal is cooperating with a medical volunteer community in France of more than 100,000 people, and is also connecting with a number of hospitals in Indonesia and will soon connect with a number of hospitals in Vietnam.

AI applications and algorithms help UAVs act like virtual pilots.

The third “problem” is the application of AI and unique algorithms, analyzing with high precision to control UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) with the ability to operate like a virtual pilot.

There are many types of drones and UAVs on the market, however, Mr. Phu said that CTOptimal aims its products at solving specific and complex "problems": "We give UAVs the ability to fly without a controller, nor GPS. Our products can serve many purposes such as supporting operations related to remote sensing, agriculture, forestry, etc. For example, to manage thousands of hectares of forest, it is impossible to sit and control the drone, but we need a UAV that can fly itself along a pre-programmed trajectory, and a camera system that continuously analyzes data to help warn of forest fires and illegal loggers, etc. Our UAV solutions currently have a number of export orders abroad."

“The optimization algorithms that have made Vietnamese scientists famous can be applied in many fields, but for now, we want to focus on solving the three specific “problems” mentioned above. Later, we will expand the platform to solve more “problems”, Mr. Phu added.

Promoting Vietnamese intellectual imprint in the world

CT Group and CTOptimal are constantly striving to realize the aspiration of bringing Vietnamese AI application platforms and optimization algorithms to the world technology map.

Technological products researched and developed by Vietnamese hearts and minds have been continuously introduced to the public through a series of recent international events such as: The 9th Global Young Parliamentarians Conference, Vietnam International Innovation Exhibition 2023...

When approached with CTOptimal’s solution at the Global Young Parliamentarians Conference held last September, Lord Fakafanua, Speaker of the Tongan Parliament, said that these were “world-class solutions, especially the new algorithm which is much better and more efficient than what IBM has done. I think CTOptimal’s distribution optimization solution can be used in the South Pacific so that we can live greener and reduce carbon emissions.”

Positive feedback from the community has been a great motivation for the CTOptimal team to confidently continue on its journey.

“According to the plan, in 2024, we will start to go global with highly competitive products. The first destinations will be France, the US, and leading technology countries in Asia-Pacific such as Japan, Korea, Singapore…”, CTOptimal's Global Business Development Director envisions the future.

No business is a bed of roses, there is still a long way to go from pure research to practical application.

In order to transfer scientific works into a specific software, a specific AI platform, CT Group and CTOptimal have devoted a lot of passion, intelligence, time, effort and financial resources.

CTOptimal’s “intellectual elite” team are all Vietnamese, always wanting to apply technology to serve the Vietnamese people and then serve humanity. This is the difference, also the outstanding competitive advantage of this enterprise when “reaching out to the big sea”.

Vietnamnet.vn