The Prospects for a Joint Science and Education Center on the basis of VIELINA: a Consolidated Delegation from Vietnam Visited SPbPU

In September 2018, the Russian-Vietnamese project dedicated to telecommunication systems of data collection and processing has been successfully completed. In 2016, it got approval and financial support from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) as one of the most promising international projects. A team from the Institute of Physics, Nanotechnologies and Telecommunications (IPNT) took part in its implementation from the part of SPbPU, while on the Vietnam side was presented by the Vietnam Research Institute of Electronics, Informatics and Automation (VIELINA). Precisely with the purpose to discuss further development of the partnership in science on this and other directions, along with a number of specific proposals for cooperation, a consolidated delegation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, several institutes of the Academy of Sciences and the Vietnam Research Institute of Electronics, Informatics and Automation (VIELINA) visited Polytechnic University this week. Deputy Director General of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Mr. Nguyen Hugh CHOAN was leading this representative delegation.

A series of publications indexed in Scopus, joint supervision of postgraduate studies (a candidate dissertation was prepared for defense in Vietnam), and realization of a professional development program for Vietnamese specialists in the area of “Thermal Power Plants” are the specific outcomes of the SPbPU and VIELINA partnership. Greeting the honorable guests, Vice-Rector for International Relations D.G. ARSENIEV expressed the willingness of the Russian university to expand the scope of themes for partnership and pointed out that the support at the ministry level provides universities with the prospects for developing contacts and cooperation, both for the top managers and for researchers and the faculty.

The parties discussed the possibilities for enhancement of the scope of areas for joint research projects. The plans for cooperation between Russia and Vietnam include the development of a simulator of a thermal power plant for operating personnel; creation of an automated system for calculation of the technical and economic performance of a TPP and optimization of its operation. The idea of a new project proposed by the ICNT research group on application of geoscanning technologies in agriculture caused mutual interest of the parties. The Vietnamese party expressed a special interest in the group’s projects because the agricultural sector is one of the key areas of Vietnam’s economy.

Another important topic of negotiations was establishment of a joint SPbPU - VIELINA innovation science and education center. Polytechnic University endorsed the initiative of the Vietnamese colleagues: research groups of IPNT, ICST, IETS and other expressed the willingness to share their advanced experience with students and researchers of Vietnam in such areas as physics, telecommunications, nanotechnologies, intellectual control systems, power production, etc. “We hope that establishment of a joint center in Vietnam will give us a possibility of quick and efficient exchange of essential information and to adopt the best practices of our Russian colleagues,” Mr. Nguyen Hugh CHOAN pointed out.

The negotiations were concluded with signing a Protocol on Research and Technology partnership between SPbPU and the Vietnam Research Institute of Electronics, Informatics and Automation (VIELINA). To continue the visit, the consolidated Vietnamese delegation visited IPN&T where at the meeting with the Director of the institute S.B. MAKAROV results and achievements in the framework of current projects were presented and possible ways for expanding the scope of cooperation outlined.

“We are glad for our collaboration, and we are proud that the Russian-Vietnamese mutually beneficial cooperation is developing and expanding from year to year,” Deputy Director General of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Mr. Nguyen Hugh CHOAN concluded.