Vietnam promotes co-operation on innovation with Belgian partners

This was one of the major issues raised for discussion during a meeting held on February 20 between Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung and Belgian partners Hub.Brussels, IMEC Interuniversity Microelectronics Center, and the John Group Cockerill.

Innovation, science, and technology have been the main pillars of the nation throughout the nearly 40-year Doi Moi (renewal) process, with these efforts recording many important achievements.

The vision defined by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) is that by 2045, the nation will become a modern industrialised country.

Furthermore, Belgium boasts huge potential to co-operate and support the country in terms of new technologies and renewable energy, especially in relation to the electronic circuit manufacturing technology industry.

Minister Dung led a delegation of ministries, innovation centres, research institutes, and universities to pay a working visit to Belgium from February 18 to February 21 in a bid to concretise the results of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s business trip to Belgium in December, 2022, regarding the promotion of innovation cooperation.

Hub.Brussels represents a leading intersectoral organisation in Brussels that supports business, including startups, its incubation programmes, as well as networks of experts and financial resources.

IMEC makes up one of the leading research and development centres throughout Europe and the world in the field of semiconductors and nanotechnology, especially new technologies for industries, smart manufacturing, mobile equipment, smart city development, and energy.

John Cockerill is Belgium's leading industrial group with more than 200 years of history. The group operates in the field of manufacturing machinery and industrial solutions across a variety of sectors, including energy, the environment, hydrogen, defence, and industrial services.

In terms of the field of hydrogen, John Cockerill is one of the two leading investors in the world.

Working with Hub.Brussels, Minister Dung welcomed the co-operation contents of this organisation with the Vietnam National Innovation Center (NIC) after the Minister's meeting with Hub.Brussels leaders in December, 2022.

Accordingly, Hub.Brussels and NIC both agreed on the possibility of building co-operation in a number of contents, such as sharing best experiences to improve innovation and startup capacity in Vietnam and the EU.

Minister Dung suggested that Hub.Brussels advise and support the NIC on the operation and development of the innovation and start-up centre, investment fund connection, incubation, as well as the innovation and startup promotion.

This year the Minister has assigned NIC and the Vietnam Innovation Network in Europe (VINEU) to co-ordinate with Hub.Brussels to research and build an exchange programme for startups to bring a number of Vietnamese businesses that are highly interested in surveying, working, and studying at Hub.Brussels.

This represents a key addition to organising networking schemes for startups in order to allow them to access technology and markets in Belgium and those throughout Europe.

Minister Dung therefore suggested that Hub.Brussels will represents the focal point to connect and support the search for innovation partners in Belgium, as well as the European region in general for NIC, especially those with new advanced technologies in order to set up an office at NIC Hoa Lac campus.

The Minister therefore invited Hub.Brussels to open a representative office located at NIC Hoa Lac to co-operate with NIC in developing an innovative startup ecosystem in the nation that is capable of connectting with the ecosystem in Belgium.

Annelore Isaac, deputy CEO of Hub.Brussels, emphasised that innovation and creativity remain important issues and expressed her strong belief in further co-operation with the Vietnamese side as a means of boosting ties in health care and construction.

The Brussels organisation stands ready to support Vietnamese start-ups selected to be sent to Belgium to study, whilst it also wishes to bring some Belgian startups to Vietnam, she said.

As part of the occasion, Hub.Brussels, NIC, and VINEU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on co-operation in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Working with the IMEC Center, Minister Dung emphasised that the Ministry of Planning and Investment is keen to build ties between IMEC and Vietnamese organisations and businesses, especially research links to develop the semiconductor industry locally, thereby allowing the country to participate in the global semiconductor supply chain.

This year the Minister has proposed that IMEC co-ordinate with NIC and Vietnamese training institutions such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology to arrange co-operation schemes on training for students and engineers in the semiconductor industry. This should be done while supporting Vietnamese electronics and semiconductor students’ to study and research at IMEC's system of universities and research facilities.

On the other hand, the Minister also suggested that IMEC develop private programmes in order to support and improve the capacity of local enterprises in getting involved in the semiconductor industry. In line with this, there should be a particular focus on major technology enterprises in Vietnam such as VNPT, Viettel, CMC, and FPT, in order to develop research facilities on microelectronics, microchips, chips, and semiconductors at the NIC Hoa Lac campus.

Within the framework of the working session, both IMEC and NIC signed a MoU on building ties to develop the country’s semiconductor industry capacity. Accordingly, IMEC has researched the possibility of co-operation in developing a semiconductor R&D centre in the nation.

The two sides will co-operate to develop a programme aimed at improving the research and production capacity of semiconductors in the country and for local enterprises.

Talking to leaders of John Cockerill Group, Minister Dung emphasised that the nation is highly interested in the hydrogen field, which is currently the strength of the Belgian group.

The country boasts large resources in terms of renewable energy such as wind energy, solar energy, and green hydrogen. The nation’s industrial factories are in urgent need to convert to an environmentally friendly way.

Therefore, the nation hopes to comprehensively co-operate with John Cockerill in the energy field, he went on to say.

Minister Dung hailed John Cockerill's interest, investment intention, as well as swift and drastic action towards the Vietnamese market.

Since the first meeting of John Cockerill during the PM’s visit to Belgium in December, 2022, John Cockerill has actively worked alongside Vietnamese ministries, especially the Ministry of Planning and Investment, to research and promote co-operation opportunities.

The Minister hopes for John Cockerill to become a strategic partner through the rapid implementation of co-operation programmes and research and development projects, as well as local investment projects.

For his part, John Cockerill, leader of the group, expressed his desire to make a comprehensive and strategic investment in the Vietnamese market and turn its operations into a hub to serve the Southeast Asian market, as well as possibly the Northeast Asian market.

He is therefore keen to focus on solutions related to energy conversion including biomass energy (biomass), hydrogen, and low carbon solutions in energy.

At the meeting, John Cockerill and NIC signed a MoU, under which the Belgian Group will consider investing in R&D at NIC in a number of topics related to green hydrogen, laboratory for biomass fuel products, and product development related to cooling technology in power plants and industrial sectors.

Minister Dung said Belgian centres and corporations have goodwill and are eager to co-operate and transfer technology, whilst also supporting human resource training for Vietnam.

The Belgian side is ready to send experts to the nation in order to support and invest in the fields of high technology and new energy, such as hydrogen energy and biomass energy, in accordance with the needs of energy transformation. Indeed, this is the goal that the nation pledged at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) to bring net domestic emissions to zero by 2050.

Also on February 20, Minister Dung worked with the VINEU's board of directors. The Minister affirmed that VINEU will be an extension arm of NIC to connect and exchange with Vietnamese and international experts and partners, thereby participating in research, proposals, strategy development, calls for investment, and looking for the best and most suitable technology for the country.

The Minister also welcomed the fact that VINEU has actively connected a number of Vietnamese experts in this field.