Vietnam's largest information technology competition, Intelligence Vietnam 2005, kicked off on Wednesday with hopes of encouraging contestants to convert their theoretical ideas into finished, practical and commercial products.

A notable change in this year's contest is that organisers will open a separate contest for contestants in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta in addition to the main meet.

Vuong Van Viet, editor-in-chief of the Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper, and an organiser of Intelligence Vietnam 2005, explained, "after five years [of holding the competition], the contest is always dominated by contestants from either Hanoi or HCM City - the country's largest IT centres."

"This year, by organising a separate contest in the Cuu Long Delta, young talents in remote areas be will able to join in," he said.

The annual contest, officially called Integrating Technology, Connecting Friends, is organised by Vietnam Television, the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT) and Lao Dong newspaper.

The prize for first place has been upped by VND10mil this year to VND60mil, and also includes a US$1,500 laptop computer. Second prize entails VND35mil (up from VND30mil) and a $1,500 laptop computer, while third prize is now VND15mil and a $603 desktop computer.

Last year a programmer from Hanoi, Trieu Tran Duc, won first prize. His winning entry was a corporate network security solution he called Moon Secure.

Vietnam Intelligence 2005 is sponsored by the Vietnam Mobile Telecom Service company (VMS) - the operator of MobiFone, the Vietnam Data Communication Company, Aptech IT school, Computer maker FPT Elead and the Thames Business Administration School.

(Source: Viet Nam News)