Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology held online conference to summarize work in 2020 and implement plan for 2021

Attending the meeting were Mr. Huynh Thanh Dat, Member of the Central Committee of the Party - Minister of Science and Technology; and representatives of leaders of ministries, departments and branches at the central and local levels.

On the side of VAST, there were Prof.Acad. Chau Van Minh - member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of VAST; Prof. Acad. Nguyen Van Hieu - former member of the Central Committee of the Party, former Director of Vietnam Academy of Science; Vice Chairmen of VAST: Prof.Dr. Phan Ngoc Minh, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Tran Tuan Anh, and Assoc.Prof.Dr. Chu Hoang Ha; leaders and former leaders of the Academy. There were also the Executive Committee of the Party Committee, Standing Committee of the Trade Union, Secretary of the Youth Union, leaders of affiliated units and representatives of collectives and individuals who won the emulation title in Year 2020 as rewarded by the Academy.

Overview of the conference

In 2020, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has strived to and successfully completed the tasks of scientific research, technology deployment and well implemented Resolution 01 / NQ-CP dated 01/01/2020 of the Government on Major solutions for directing and administering the implementation of socio-economic development plans and state budget estimates 2020 and Directive No. 11 / CT-TTg dated March 4, 2020, Documents: 623 / TTg-KTTH and 622 / TTg-KTTH dated May 26, 2020, Conclusion No. 242 / TB-VPCP dated 18 / 7/2020 of the Government directed ministries, central agencies and localities to drastically implement measures to promote disbursement of public investment capital. VAST's science and technology tasks are application-oriented, practical, attaching importance to product quality, prioritizing resources for implementing hi-tech development programs, encouraging registration of intellectual property knowledge, supporting the application and transfer of scientific and technological advances, and strengthening international cooperation.

In 2020, although the COVID-19 situation is complicated, it receives the attention and direction of the Party and the Government, the support of the ministries, central and local branches, with determination and efforts of all cadres, civil servants and scientists, VAST have focused on organizing and implementing the assigned tasks well.

Prof.Acad. Chau Van Minh presents a summary report on the work in 2020 and the implementation of the 2021 plan of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (Photo: Center for Information and Documentation)

For the basic research task, VAST has achieved good results with a total of 2,544 scientific publications, of which the number of international articles is 1,613, up 36.9% compared to 2019; the number of articles in the prestigious International magazine (SCIE) was 1281 articles, an increase of 44.3% compared to 2019, including many high-quality works. The number of articles with IF index>= 3 accounts for 28.8% and the number of articles published in high quality magazines meeting Q1 standards (according to Scimago classification) accounts for 41.7% of the total number of international publications.The number of articles increased significantly in both quantity and quality, especially in the COVID-19 epidemic situation due to the great efforts of the leaders and all scientific staff of VAST. VAST continues to be the leading unit in the country in basic research. In addition, the two International Centers of Type II in Mathematics and Physics under the auspices of UNESCO, which came into operation in 2018, have brought into play VAST's strengths in basic research in the field of Mathematics and Physics.

In the basic investigation, in 2020, scientists of VAST  have discovered 133 new species of animals and plants for science. The basic investigation operations focus on research on biodiversity in Vietnam and build databases of flora and fauna species for different areas in Vietnam, and investigate plant sources with biological activity such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive effect or hypoglycemia to be able to orient the application in the field of Medicine and Pharmacy to create medicinal products for life. 

In 2020, VAST has continued to promote the research and technology application and have been granted 41 patents for invention and utility solution patents.VAST has actively participated in 8 events to introduce the science and technology results of VAST to society and businesses. Additionally, VAST was honored by Clarivate as one of the 28 leading innovation organizations in 2020 in South Asia and Southeast Asia.

In 2020, VAST has implemented 828 tasks and topics at all levels, including 387 subjects, projects and tasks under the National Programs, National Science and Technology Fund, Key programs managed by Ministries and branches, Authorized Programs for VAST; 320 VAST-level topics and tasks. Moreover, affiliates have performed over 1200 science and technology contracts, an increase of 30% compared to 2019, including 1046 economic contracts from services.

In 2020, VAST had two more journals: Earth Science and Chemistry magazine in the ESCI list of Web of Science, bringing the total number of international standard journals to 5 journals and 5 journals meeting the ACI (Asian Citation Index) criteria. Also in 2020, VAST published 49 valuable books and references on flora and fauna in Vietnam and islands, contributing to serving the implementation of the maritime economic development strategy and affirming the protection of the independence of sovereignty over the sea and islands of Vietnam.

Besides, other science and technology activities also achieved good results such as stable operation of VNREDSat-1 in orbit to provide satellite images for effective scientific research and national security; Operation of an earthquake observing station network serving tsunami news and warnings; The two programs of Science and Technology Central Highlands 3 (2016-2020) and Space Science and Technology have been implemented with many good results; The Academy of Science and Technology and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology have organized many admissions for research students and graduate students in 2020, the quality of training is increasingly improving and the number of students. Besides, VAST is trying to implement activities of the Vietnam Museum of Nature.

In 2020, despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, VAST maintained an exchange connection with partners implementing online bilateral cooperation tasks, organizing, participating in conferences and seminars, and signed documents on international cooperation. Categorically, VAST exchanged and signed through letter a cooperation agreement with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for the period 2020-2021; coordinated with the Vien Dong Sub-Institute - Russian Academy of Science to organize an online international seminar "Evaluation of 20 years of international cooperation on marine science and a Preliminary summary of the cooperation roadmap between Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and the Far East Institute of Science; Russian Academy of Sciences on marine scientific research for the period of 2018 - 2025; discussing with the Vien Dong Sub-Institute the joint survey in Vietnam's territorial waters in the field of biodiversity and biochemistry by ship "Oparin Institute" and marine geology and geophysics by ship Lavrentiev. In addition, the Institute supported its affiliates to sign 35 memorandums of understanding with partners in the US, Malaysia, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Belgium, and the UK in the fields of ecology, biology, school and remote sensing. VAST's regular activities on organization - staff, office, international cooperation, planning - finance, technology application and inspection have been put into good order, with good results, with the active activities of the Trade Union and the Youth Union, contributing to the overall achievements of VAST.

Also in the framework of the conference, delegates heard some illustrative reports of affiliated units to better understand the operation and results of VAST in the past year.

Prof.Acad. Chau Van Minh awarded the emulation flag to the units (Photo: Information - Document Center)

Prof.Acad. Chau Van Minh and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Tuan Anh awarded certificates of merit to units with the title of Excellent Labor Collective (Photo: Center for Information - Documentation)

Prof.Acad. Chau Van Minh and Prof.Dr. Phan Ngoc Minh awarded certificates of merit to the rooms and the equivalent won the title of Excellent Labor Collective (Photo: Center for Information - Documentation)

Prof.Acad. Chau Van Minh awarded the title VAST Emulation Soldier to individuals (Photo: Information - Document Center)

With the achieved results, in 2020, many collectives and individuals of VAST have been awarded by the Government for their outstanding achievements in scientific research and application and implementation. technology. As follows: Government Emulation Flag for 1 unit; Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister for 1 unit; Third-class Labor Medal for 1 unit and 3 individuals; Labor Medal, Second class for 1 unit and 2 individuals. Academy level commendation: Certificate of Merit from the President of Academy for 11 collectives, 13 individuals; Academy Medal for 30 individuals.

At the end of the conference, in order to praise units, collectives and individuals with outstanding achievements in their work in 2020, VAST's Leadership Board awarded the title of Emulation Flag of VAST for 10 applications; awarded the title of Excellent Labor Collective to 3 units and 27 Divisions and Centers; awarded the title of Academy-level Emulation Soldier to 6 individuals; awarded Certificates of Merit from the President of VAST to 21 collectives and 27 individuals.

Taking event photo (Photo: Information - Documentation Center)

Translated by Phuong Ha
Link to Vietnamese version