Science and technology topics were discussed at a meeting between Minister of Science & Technology Chu Ngoc Anh and leading Vietnamese scientists in late December 2016.

Prof Dao Tien Khoa from the Nuclear Engineering Institute said one of the important roles played by the science & technology sector is bringing advanced technologies to Vietnam to serve the country and people’s demand. 

He said the positron emission tomography–computed tomography (better known as PET-CT or PET/CT), which was launched in the world in 1990s, should have been applied in Vietnam in late 1990s instead of 2009.

The center has commercialized a part of its scientific research, but it has to ‘spend too much energy on works that it is not good at’.

He said that Vietnam can only contribute to the creation of 1/1000 of different kinds of technologies in the world, while the remaining need to be imported to Vietnam and used in the most effective way.

However, it is not an easy task. The young scientists at the meeting said they tried to develop prototypes but could not continue.

Do Thi Huong Giang from Hanoi University of Technology, an arm of the Hanoi National University, said her team had developed sensor systems and systems that receive and transmit satellite signals for ships on the sea. They have been tested successfully and were praised by the US Navy. However, these were just prototypes.

Giang said she believes she can help businesses identify problems in the production process. However, it is difficult to do this because scientists don’t have information about the market and they cannot arrange capital for trial production.

Sharing the same view as Giang, Vu Thi Thu Ha, director of the Petrochemical Key Laboratory, said she usually has to borrow money at a high interest rate of 12 percent to implement trial production projects before she cannot receive money from the state.

Ta Hai Tung, director of NAVIS, the International Collaboration Center for R&D on Satellite Navigation Technology in SE Asia, said the center has commercialized a part of its scientific research, but it has to ‘spend too much energy on works that it is not good at’. 

They have had to shift from basic research to application, and then set up a spin-off company to survey the market, and develop and manufacture products, as well as look for customers.


Le Ha