Ottawa (VNA) – Vietnam’s push for technology self-reliance will hinge on linking advanced materials research with talent training and factory demand, Assoc. Prof. Vu Viet Hung, Chairman of the Canadian Vietnamese Scientists and Experts Association (CVSEA), told Vietnam News Agency reporters in Ottawa.
He said specialised research teams with stable funding and long-term corporate ties should be central to following the Politburo’s Resolution 57-NQ/TW on science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation.
According to him, materials underpin everything from semiconductor chips to aircraft engines. Research, manufacturing and application capacity therefore determine how much technology Vietnam can actually master. Investment in materials must come with those who can absorb, improve and create technology.
Hung pointed to Canada’s Industrial Research Chair model: a professor runs a lab, signs a 5–10 year research agreement with a company, uses university infrastructure and corporate cash, and leverages that to seek Government funding.
The model spreads the benefits. Universities gain research capacity and postgraduates; labs funding to support scholarships, upgrade equipment and carry out research projects; companies obtain research results, trained manpower and products with commercialisation potential.
Trust and mutual understanding between scientists and companies are decisive, along with finance, tax and technology transfer policies. Corporate resources can anchor further funding and keep research tied to real applications.
For Vietnam, Hung proposed strengthening basic research at the Institute of Materials Sciences under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and building applied research labs and chair positions at tech universities. These units need coordination in expertise, training and transfer, linked to local and corporate resources.
Priorities should follow strategic need, domestic research capacity and industrial application. Hung flagged materials for semiconductors, energy, robotics, automation and aerospace, with specialised teams in design, manufacturing or processing.
On titanium and titanium alloys, Vietnam needs deeper processing and eventually internationally standard blanks for manufacturing. The route is taking technology transfer from trusted partners, pairing it with domestic research, and building production and upgrade capacity in parallel.
He recommended 4–5 labs and applied research chairs for titanium and titanium alloys in aerospace, medical, industrial and national defence-security fields. Work would cover conventional machining, additive manufacturing and component and equipment design.
On funding, he suggested 20–30 national-level labs and research chairs over five years for selected advanced materials groups at leading universities.
He called for a coordinated funding scheme across science and education agencies and the National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) to back postgraduate training, overseas internships and practical skills. For each selected materials group, he targets 300–500 skilled engineers and technicians in five years and 4–5 companies investing in technology.
The expert also advocated using Vietnamese scientists abroad for short-term teaching, lab supervision and research cooperation, plus scholarships for Vietnamese doctoral students to intern in international labs. The work should be tied to specific group tasks so knowledge transfers and the domestic workforce keeps building technology.
By 2035, Hung expects Vietnam to have a workforce and corporate base with financial capacity, technology ownership and markets. By 2045, he wants mastery of selected technologies and products that can compete with imports on quality and cost. Studies must end in manufacturing, application and real production muscle./.
