Binh Dinh leaders build world-class scientific centre

The central province is set to become an ideal destination for both Vietnamese and international scientists

According to Chairman of the Binh Dinh People’s Committee, Ho Quoc Dung, generations of Binh Dinh leaders have been committed to turning the province into a destination for the scientific community. The province has already succeeded in its ‘Meet Vietnam’ programme, a biennial summit which has welcomed many Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners throughout its 12 editions, and is aimed at presenting Vietnamese scientists to the world.

“The province wants to become an attractive venue for youngsters and people throughout the country to have intriguing experiences in the scientific field,” Dung said. “The seminars and scientific conferences within the framework of the 12th Meet Vietnam are meaningful to science education and socioeconomic developments of the province, and the country as a whole.”

The provincial leaders, in tandem with the Meet Vietnam Association’s chairman Tran Thanh Van and diverse authorised government agencies, have submitted a proposal to the government to establish a scientific research institute that would attract respected local and international scientists.

The goal is to turn Binh Dinh into an ideal destination for both Vietnamese and global scientists. The province has planned to create an urban scientific space on 130 hectares at Quy Hoa valley in the coastal city of Quy Nhon.

Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh recently co-ordinated with Binh Dinh leaders, the Meet Vietnam Association’s chairman Tran Thanh Van, and Nobel Prize in Physics winners David Gross and Jerome Friedman to establish the Vietnam Scientific Research Institute in Quy Hoa valley.

In mid-July 2016, during the opening speech at the 12th Meet Vietnam, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said he expected that in 30 years, the Meet Vietnam summit would reach outside Vietnam’s borders, and engage the participation of many scientists, including the younger ones who were present at Meet Vietnam 2016.

Dam asked Binh Dinh leaders to advance the development of the province-based International Centre of Inter-disciplinary Science Education (ICISE) so the country can further facilitate Vietnamese scientific development.

Academic Nguyen Van Hieu, former president of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, noted that fundamental science is important, but it is a vast field. Therefore, the Party and the government need to help build a pipeline of qualified scientists to research in fields that are beneficial to people’s lives and help improve production quality.

“International scientific conferences like those within Meet Vietnam programmes are very beneficial as they attract world renowned scientists to Vietnam. But more important is what we have reaped from these conferences. We need to selectively acquire new things and sort out what will be valuable for us,” Hieu said.

Senior economist Tran Du Lich suggested that the government needs to introduce a flexible policy plan to bring back young local scientists currently working abroad. They can help service the country’s development, and ICISE can be the cradle to nurture scientific ideas and studies.