Ho Chi Minh City has a genuinely free family event on its calendar right now: Science Fair 2026, running October 9-11 at 257 Hoàng Văn Thụ Street in Tân Sơn Hòa Ward. It's an annual festival that mixes science, technology, education and the arts, and this year's edition leans hard into artificial intelligence under the theme "A Conversation with the Future: AI – Society – Responsibility".
The Goethe-Institut HCM City organises it, with backing from the German Consulate General and collaboration with artLIVE and The Too Blue Scientist — a mix that explains the event's distinctly German-Vietnamese, culture-heavy flavour. Rather than a trade show, it's built for children, educators and curious members of the public.
The programme is packed. Panel talks bring together experts, educators, entrepreneurs and artists to debate AI in education, business, safety, the digital divide, creativity and the environment. A Science Film Festival screens animated films and documentaries about AI, science and the future for kids and adults alike. Hands-on workshops range from paper-circuit pop-up cards and homemade spectroscopes to carbon storytelling and sessions blending AI with poetry and art.
There's a performance strand too: a popping dance piece called Electric Sheep by Mar Studio, a poem reading titled Morphed into a machine by Châu Hoàng, and The Living Code Prelude, a live coding performance by artists from Thailand and Viet Nam. The HCM City University of Science's Faculty of Interdisciplinary Sciences adds science booths, AR/VR experiences and film screenings focused on STEM and sustainability. One quirky highlight: a demonstration of AI-assisted sensory evaluation applied to German artisanal bread-making.
Culture isn't an afterthought. A book space run with the HCM City General Sciences Library and Trẻ Publishing House showcases titles on science, AI and human life, while an art space displays installations exploring memory, perception and technology.
For travellers, this is the kind of thing guidebooks miss. If you're in HCM City in early October — especially with kids, or as a remote-working parent looking for something educational and indoors — it's a rare chance to see a Vietnamese-German cultural collaboration at street level, and it costs nothing. Admission is free, though you need to register via the event's online form, so sign up before turning up. District-level events like this also pull you out of the usual District 1 tourist circuit and into a neighbourhood most visitors never see.
Just note the timing: the fair runs three days only, October 9-11, so it's worth building your Ho Chi Minh City dates around it if the programme appeals. Full details and registration links are on the organiser's channels.
