Vietnam currently holds the lead among the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries which have carried out many scientific
research and technological development projects in cooperation with the
European Union (EU). The success rate of EU-funded projects implemented
by Vietnam is higher than the average of all EU-funded projects. The
Vietnam Economic News reports.
At a recent
international workshop “Strengthening EU-Vietnam Cooperation in Science,
Technology and Innovation: Opportunities to Increase Researcher
Mobility” in Hanoi, National Agency for Science and Technology
Information Director Le Xuan Dinh said that Vietnam was engaged in 36
projects under the EU’s 7th Framework Program for Research and
Technological Development (FP7) with EU funds totaling EUR5 million.
Vietnam takes the lead among the Southeast Asian countries which have
had cooperation projects with the EU (the whole ASEAN region so far has
had 98 cooperative research projects with the EU).
Vietnam is the second largest recipient of the EU funds, after Thailand.
It is also the largest recipient of the EU’s Marie Curie individual
fellowships. Fifty Vietnamese researchers have received these
fellowships and joined in research activities at European universities
and research institutes.
Dr. Simon Grimley, an
Euraxess expert in Asia (Euraxess is a network of European and
international researchers, scientists and scholars, which works on
strengthening research cooperation between Europe and Southeast Asia),
said that Vietnam not only took the lead among the ASEAN countries
having cooperation projects with the EU but the success rate of
EU-funded projects implemented by Vietnam was rather high, standing at
30 percent, while the average of all EU-funded projects was 17 percent.
These are impressive results, reflecting Vietnam’s successful
involvement in EU-funded projects.
Like other ASEAN
members, Vietnam has taken an active part in EU-funded projects in a
wide range of fields such as natural resources and environment, food,
agriculture, biotechnology, renewable energy and health care.
However, in Dinh’s opinion, Vietnamese scientists can find more
opportunities to cooperate with the EU if they take the initiative in
providing information about their research capabilities. Actually, the
technical capabilities of Vietnamese researchers and those from other
ASEAN countries are very good, but they still lack the capability of
making the most of job opportunities.
“To work in
science like people in the rest of the world, one cannot just sit in a
research institute or a laboratory but must seek out opportunities to
cooperate with others to undertake research so that one can improve in
terms of skills and methodology and make use of modern research
facilities to achieve the best research results,” said Dinh.
Grimley called upon Vietnamese scientists to come to Euraxess where
they can be offered opportunities to seek cooperative research partners
from Europe. The EU’s FP7 will finish later this year and the EU will
develop another science and technology programme entitled Horizon 2020.
He also encouraged Vietnamese scientists to seek
the EU’s Marie Curie individual fellowships to enjoy financial support
throughout a 12-24 month research process.-VNA