Why is this work relevant for Innovation?

Biti’s Smart is the first smart shoe made in Vietnam. It is not like any smart shoe that help you run better, but the smart shoe makes kids smarter. By that, Biti’s Smart try to solve the social issue: Vietnamese parents’ struggle to balance kids’ study & physical activity. Curious yet? Here comes the story.

Background

Social challenges: VIETNAMESE PARENTS STRUGGLE TO BALANCE KIDS’ STUDY & PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ‘STUDY! STUDY!’ is believed the only way for kids in Vietnam. Most parents have their kids sitting on the school bench, then back at home finishing their homework or some extra classes. Just like that, most of Vietnamese kids’ childhood is spent on sitting. Even when physical activity had been recommended for holistic development for the past decade. But don’t put all of the responsibility on parents. They had the struggle. After all, they had to choose the more prioritized thing which was told to ensure their kids’ future – study. Biti’s – the national footwear brand with the promise ‘Embrace Vietnamese kids’ happy childhood’ – came to help. Biti’s tried a new approach that help parents out of the struggle – a win-win solution. So What if physical activities also get kids smarter?

Describe the idea

Scientists have proven physical activity is the best transformative thing for our brains. Biti’s revealed this stunning fact & leveraged it to approach parents. To solve the dilemma, Biti’s did something more in the teritory they master at – creating a shoe. Because parents cannot just take away all study time for physical activity, Biti’s created the shoes can tell parents how their children should be physically active for their best intellectual development. With an on-shoe tracking device, the Smart shoe collects activity data of kid, which will be showed on Smart app on the parents’ phones. How can it help kids smarter? Based on the Smart Active Standard from the research Biti’s co-conducted with National Institute of Education & People Development, the app will recommend parents How much time & What kind of activities kids should take with the optimal standard customized for their best intellectual development.

What were the key dates in the development process?

'August 2018 - Launching First-hand version (Smart Shoes & App) December 2019 - Launching Commercial version (Smart Shoes & App) September 2020 - Releasing Smart Active standard research outcome December 2020 - Updating Smart Active standard on App (the alrogithm proving customized recommendation for each kid about How much time & What kind of activities they should take for their best intellectual development)

Describe the innovation/technology

The smart shoe – tracking the kid - The smart shoe with the activity tracking device carries the actigraph sensors collecting activity data of wearer – including number of steps, burnt calories, speed & distance, modes of activity - and other components (including battery, transmitter…) that help it collects, processes & transmits data to the Smart app. The smart app – communicating with the parents - The smart app is a fitness app which receives activity data from the smart shoes & real-time showing parents how active their kids are. Then, it gives evaluation & recommends how active the kids should be for their best intellectual development, based on Smart Active Standard. - Smart Active Standard – the heart of Biti’s Smart – is the research Biti’s co-conducts with IPD with the objective of giving customized recommendation for the best intellectual development for each kid. Based on physical status (height, weight, gender, age) & activity status of each kid, Biti’s Smart app will calculate how that kid should obtain physical activity (amount of time, intensity, modes of activity) using Smart Active Standard input.

Describe the expectations/outcome

It’s was the 1st year of the long-run campaign introducing the first-hand version of Biti’s Smart - for hands-on experience only & to-be-updated Smart Active Standard - to capture the public attention for the new concept of smart shoes, and designing some real consumer experiments for the wider commercial improvements in later stage. For the brand, Biti's Smart is the enter of Biti's to the potential market of wearable devices which eveluated at 78 million USD & transforms the old-school national company into the leading Vietnamese company in 4.0 era. For the society, the new approach of Biti’s Smart was expected to help Vietnamese parents out of their struggle to balance kids’ study & physical activity. One step further, Biti’s expects the Smart Active Standard research may lead to the change in education system – which had been devaluated the role of physical activity.