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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam // October 15, 2026 - ZEBOX, the international innovation accelerator founded by Rodolphe Saadé, hosted the first Asia-Pacific edition of Challenge for Impact, its flagship startup competition, in Ho Chi Minh City.
Founded in 2018, ZEBOX connects startups, corporate partners and innovation ecosystems to accelerate the development and deployment of solutions addressing real-world business challenges. Following the first edition of Challenge for Impact held in Guadeloupe in late 2025, the competition is now expanding internationally, with Vietnam marking its first edition in the Asia-Pacific region.
Held at the Caravelle Saigon Hotel as part of France Vietnam Forward, the closing event of the Year of Innovation between France and Vietnam, the event brought together international startups, corporations and key players from the French and Vietnamese innovation ecosystems to tackle concrete business challenges.
Organized in partnership with CMA CGM Vietnam and FPT, with the support of the National Innovation Center (NIC) and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry France Vietnam (CCIFV), the competition featured three challenges open to solution-ready startups worldwide. Two to three finalists competed in each category, presenting their solutions to expert juries before the winners were announced on the main stage of France Vietnam Forward:
ICD/Depot Equipment Allocation – Unlocking Inland Efficiency and Customer Value, powered by CMA CGM Vietnam
Winner: DCbrain - DCbrain develops an intelligent solution that helps companies better manage container storage and distribution to reduce costs and unnecessary trips.
Barge Navigation Predictor – Optimizing Barging Operations, powered by CMA CGM Vietnam
Winner: Innovez One - Innovez One develops intelligent software that helps maritime operators predict arrival times, optimise vessel routes and schedules, and coordinate port operations more efficiently.
AI-Powered IT Operations Optimization, powered by FPT
Winner: Hyground - Hyground develops an AI solution that helps IT teams detect problems, identify their causes, and automate tasks to save time and prevent outages.
In parallel, a fourth challenge brought together CMA CGM and FPT teams, with CMA CGM teams putting forward a specific business challenge focused on restricted-visibility berth window pool for three FPT teams to solve. The teams competed throughout the program to develop the most relevant technology-driven solution, with Berth Buddies team announced as the winner.
This fourth challenge highlights ZEBOX’s role in connecting its corporate partners and fostering collaboration across its network. By bringing together CMA CGM’s business expertise and FPT’s AI and technology capabilities, the initiative enabled both organizations to collaborate on a concrete business challenge and explore innovative solutions.
The winning startups will have the opportunity to further develop their solutions through funded Proof of Concept, with the ambition of turning innovative technologies into concrete business applications.
The Vietnam edition marks the first joint initiative between ZEBOX and FPT following the announcement of their partnership and represents an important milestone in ZEBOX's expansion across the Asia-Pacific innovation ecosystem. It also aligns with FPT’s AI-first strategy by fostering an open innovation ecosystem where startups, enterprises and technology experts can co-develop and scale practical AI solutions for industry.
