Australia enhances investment in innovation to Vietnam

Aus4Innovation launched an innovation club to support horticulture in the north of Vietnam, creating a platform to bring together SMEs, researchers and others to address unprecedented challenges like climate change and COVID-19

This additional funding has increased the total investment in Aus4Innovation to AUD13.45 million ($10.4 million), helping the programme scale up successful activities, enabling initiatives to adapt the programme to the context of economic recovery from COVID-19 and positioning Aus4Innovation for the second phase that will extend the collaboration to 2025.

Speaking at a bilateral meeting with Vietnam’s Minister of Science and Technology, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Robyn Mudie said: “Four years since its establishment, I’m delighted that the Innovation Partnership between Australia and Vietnam, through the Aus4Innovation Program, has delivered tangible, significant results that are having substantial positive impacts on the lives of Vietnamese people. Our collaborative achievements with the Ministry of Science of Technology and partners from both countries are being realised thanks to an embrace of emerging technology and scientific knowledge. Our decision to increase support for innovation by AUD3.5 million ($2.7 million) reaffirms Australia’s commitment to our strategic partnership with Vietnam, in which knowledge and innovation is one of the three priorities.”

Aus4Innovation – which is delivered collaboratively by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and Australia’s national science agency, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) – is building partnerships between Australian and Vietnamese universities, research agencies, high-tech businesses, and policymakers to help strengthen Vietnam’s innovation ecosystem to deliver sustainable socio-economic development.

Over the first two and a half years, Aus4Innovation has explored emerging areas of technology and digital transformation, trialled new models for partnerships between public and private sector institutions, and strengthened Vietnamese capability in digital foresight, scenario planning, science commercialisation, and innovation policy.

“It is very reassuring to know that in this critical time, facing the severe pandemic worldwide and pressure to accelerate digital transformation to meet the goals set by the government, we have a trusted partner like Australia. Our collaboration is based on strategic trust in the role of science, technology, and innovation to drive sustained socio-economic development; and in the mutual benefit that partnership brings to both countries. We highly appreciate the support of the Australian government through Aus4Innovation Program and are pleased to see what the programme has achieved and impacted Vietnam’s innovation ecosystem. We will continue to work closely for a successful transition period and look forward to more widespread impacts in Phase 2,” Huynh Thanh Dat, Minister of Science and Technology added.

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Ho Chi Minh University of Technology (HCMUT) adapted water monitoring technology from UTS to a uniquely Vietnamese version. Four monitoring stations were successfully built in Phu Yen province, providing real-time warnings on seawater quality thereby helping lobster farmers take prompt actions to protect their investment

Since the programme’s formal commencement in 2018, impactful results have been delivered across all program activities. 130 organisations from both Australia and Vietnam have been brought together in 43 partnerships.

These organisations are government agencies, research institutes, universities, and businesses – all key stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem. Practical, innovative solutions delivering development impacts have been applied in different sectors of the economy – health, aquaculture, clean and safe water, smart urban infrastructure, and more.

Overall capacity in science commercialisation has been significantly enhanced through training for knowledge institutes and individual researchers, the opening of technology transfer offices across the country, and the piloting of science commercialisation models to find the most suitable model for Vietnam.

A remarkable result of this effort is the Commercialisation Plus – How to Guide, co-developed with Vietnamese partners to introduce a structured commercialisation process to Vietnamese research institutes. Reports and econometric models have been conducted to provide policymakers in Vietnam with technical support and introduce lessons learned from Australia.

Aus4Innovation primarily works in two sectors: future digital economy (including digital technology and AI) and resilient agriculture and food systems. In the transition period 2021-2022, new initiatives will be incorporated such as the Vietnam Innovation Marketplace portal to facilitate connections between industry and research organisations and the Australia-Vietnam Partnership on Marine Plastic to help the two countries address this common environmental challenge.