The Better Choice Awards 2025: Unveiling the Year’s Exciting Innovations

The Better Choice Awards (BCA) – a prestigious annual national awards program recognizing innovative consumer-centric products and services – is making its grand return for the 2025 season with a series of breakthrough changes. After two impactful inaugural seasons, BCA 2025 promises an expanded scope, closer alignment with emerging consumer trends, and a continued spotlight as a key event during the National Innovation Festival from October 1st to 3rd, 2025.

Better Choice Awards is a joint initiative by the National Innovation Center (NIC) and VCCorp JSC, under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance, with strategic partnerships from leading agencies, organizations, industry experts, and the Vietnamese consumer community.

This awards program evaluates products through a combination of expert panels and direct consumer voting, reflecting actual market demands and influencing consumer behavior.

So, what’s new for this year’s Better Choice Awards?

First and foremost, we introduce the Consumer Finance Awards (CFA) – an entirely new category celebrating innovative consumer-centric solutions in the financial sector. Amid the booming consumer financial services landscape, CFA provides a dedicated platform to recognize advancements in payment, credit, digital banking, investment applications, and comprehensive financial ecosystems.

Secondly, Better Choice Awards 2025 integrates a massive event: Vietnam Mobility Festival (VMF) within the Car Choice Awards (CCA). From October 1st to 3rd, VMF will offer hands-on experiences with new vehicle models and host a range of interactive activities, performances, and industry workshops. This unique combination of user experiences and expert evaluations lays the foundation for more authentic voting and award decisions.

Running throughout the awards season is a special content line, “Soaring with AI,” reflecting the global shift and growing demand for AI integration in all aspects of life. Categories such as Smart Choice Awards and Innovative Choice Awards have been significantly expanded to embrace AI-powered products and business models serving the Vietnamese market. Particularly, Better Choice Awards 2025 will spotlight “Make in Vietnam” AI products that are highly applicable and community-friendly.

Fourthly, the award categories are being updated to closely align with emerging consumer demands. Smart Choice Awards will expand its criteria to include Vietnamese language integration, green technologies for energy efficiency, and seamless connectivity between devices, services, and cloud platforms.

Meanwhile, Innovative Choice Awards will recognize breakthroughs in fields like digital healthcare, smart transportation, education technology, and AI solutions for SMEs. These updates reflect the organizers’ commitment to mirroring market dynamics and providing a level playing field for startups, research institutes, and large corporations alike.

Additionally, an entirely new activity named KOC Better List will be introduced, engaging tech-savvy consumers (KOC) in weekly product evaluations during the voting period from August 25th to September 14th. The highest-rated products over three weeks will be honored with a commemorative medal at the Gala Awards Night on October 3rd, 2025.

The detailed list of categories for the 2025 Better Choice Awards is currently being finalized by the organizers and is expected to be announced on August 25th, ensuring alignment with emerging consumer trends and market dynamics.

Gala Night: More Than Just an Event

Better Choice Awards 2025 goes beyond content expansion by elevating the entire experience of performances, media engagement, and community connections. The Gala Night, scheduled for October 3rd in Hanoi, will be produced as a remarkable fusion of art and technology. Award-winning products will have their stories retold through stage performances incorporating AR effects, music, and lighting, offering an emotional and creative product experience for the audience.

Moreover, this year’s program features a series of large-scale, in-depth side events. Notably, following the awards ceremony, there will be an AI Hackathon gathering young developers and startups to create practical AI solutions and foster innovation within the community.

Concurrently, Better Choice Awards 2025 will launch a special talk show series, “Building the Nation – Proudly Vietnam,” airing periodically on the Government Portal from August to November 2025. The show will feature prominent Vietnamese figures – from scientists and engineers to doctors, startups, and inventors – who are making positive societal impacts through technology and personal endeavors.

Additionally, a series of specialized workshops on AI, semiconductor technology, and quantum computing will run concurrently from October 2nd to 3rd, featuring top Vietnamese and international experts, including Nobel Prize and Tate Medal recipients. This is the first time such distinguished experts will be present at a high-level technology forum in Vietnam, promising insightful dialogues and practical collaboration opportunities.