Australia, Vietnam seek broader co-operation in science, technology, and innovation

At the meeting, Helen Wilson, deputy secretary of Industry, Science and Resources of Australia, expressed her gratitude and respect to the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who always led, supported, and created favourable conditions for the development of the Vietnam - Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Deputy Minister Thai thanked the Australian Government for its sentiments following the passing of the late General Secretary, while thanking the Australian side for its warm welcome and being highly appreciative of the co-operative relationship between the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and the DISR over the past time.

The Deputy Minister compared notes some contents of the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation Development to 2030 issued by the Prime Minister.

He said that the Ministry of Science and Technology is carrying out several priority contents such as fine-tuning the legal framework for science, technology, and innovation activities through amending the Law on Science and Technology 2013 towards approaching international standards; the Law on Technical Standards and Regulations; and the Law on Atomic Energy.

The meeting saw the DISR share its experience in developing and implementing policies for science and technology development, priority areas of the Australian Government such as renewable energy, advanced manufacturing industries, emission reduction technology, and public health; as well as policies related to intellectual property protection, attracting participation, and funding from the international community, both bilateral and multilateral, for research projects.

In recent years, the Australian Government has adopted many support programmes to help the nation to build an innovation ecosystem, enhance the application and development of science, technology, and digital technology. In the coming time, the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and its Australian counterpart will continue to co-ordinate efforts in managing and effectively carrying out collaboration schemes to develop and connect the innovation ecosystems of the two countries more strongly. This will thereby practically serve the national goals of sustainable socio-economic development based on science, technology, and innovation, as well as further stepping up linkages between the two countries in this field.

At the working session with the ARC, Deputy Minister Thai expressed his wish that the Council would share experiences on organizational models; funding activities to review and grant approval of proposals; financial management models to fund research and supervision, inspection, evaluation, and acceptance of scientific and technological topics; project asset handling; product/intellectual property valuation from research results; and commercialisation of research results.

The two sides exchanged, discussed, and proposed directions for co-operation in science, technology, and innovation activities in the time ahead such as training, exchanging staff/experts, developing joint research projects, intensifying research funding ties, as well as using funding from Vietnam, Australia, and other multilateral funding sources.

Also within the framework of the working trip to Canberra, the delegation visited with the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia.

This comes after working sessions held in Melbourne from August 3 to August 7, when the delegation worked with a number of major Australian universities such as Monash University, Melbourne University, and RMIT University. During the working sessions, Deputy Minister Thai highly appreciated the investment of the universities in scientific research activities and the achievements they have recorded. He said that with their strengths, the two sides have a lot of potential for co-operation and sharing to accelerate science, technology, and innovation activities.

The University of Melbourne and Monash University shared experience in organising selection activities, managing science and technology tasks, commercializing research results, and experience in building and operating startup and innovation centers. The two sides exchanged, discussed, and proposed directions for collaboration in science, technology, and innovation activities moving forward.

Also within the framework of the working trip, the delegation had a working session with the Vietnamese Australian Scholars & Experts Association (VASEA) in Australia. At the meeting, Deputy Minister Thai highly appreciated the results of the Association's activities in the past time and suggested that in the coming time, the Association continue to promote practical activities to contribute to the development of science, technology, and innovation in Vietnam.