Opening of U.S.–Vietnam Science and Technology Days

Hanoi, November 15, 2005

 
Vice Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Bui Manh Hai, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and thank you for joining us to celebrate the opening of the first U.S.–Vietnam Science and Technology Days.
 
I would like to take a moment to explain the origin and the purpose of this event: Science and Technology Days.  At the annual Joint Committee on Science and Technology in Washington last year, the United States and Vietnam agreed to host an event to illustrate how cooperation in science and technology promotes economic growth and mutual understanding.  As our calendar unfolded this year, this event became the last major activity to mark this year’s tenth anniversary of the normalization of U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic relations.  We believe that S&T Days should stimulate future collaborative partnerships by bringing together U.S. and Vietnamese scientists and government officials.  And, we hope that it will also awaken an interest in the sciences among the general public in both of our countries. 
 
Already the United States and Vietnam cooperate on Science and Technology in a number of ways.  We have provided funds to help improve Vietnam’s coastal management and disaster prevention.  Two of our most important efforts are seeking to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam and to combat Avian Influenza.  Another critical contribution is the support we give to the Vietnam Education Foundation, which provides 5 USD million annually in scholarship support to Vietnamese students working on advanced degrees in the sciences, engineering or public health in the United States.   We are also working with the VEF to develop centers of excellence at universities in Vietnam to serve as bases for returned scholars. 
 
But S&T days will take a somewhat different approach.  Science and technology have been the catalyst for economic growth in the United States and elsewhere around the world and much of it has begun in universities.  Research universities attract and concentrate significant amounts of funding for scientific research that leads to new knowledge, which private sector firms turn into products or processes to bring to the market.  Often these universities are located near concentrations of hi tech firms such as in Silicon Valley in northern California. 
 
Tomorrow, representatives from the Center for Commercialization of Advanced Technology of the U.S. Department of Navy will present a seminar on how to take technology from the S&T Lab to the marketplace.  This step is vital if young scientists are to make their dreams come true in the real world.  It can be done, as demonstrated when Bill Hewlett and David Packard started their firm in a Palo Alto, California garage.  Bill Gates followed in that tradition when he started Microsoft.  We’re looking for the Vietnamese Bill Gates.  But once an entrepreneur has developed a new product, often at considerable risk and expense, the legal system must protect his rights to that intellectual property.  Otherwise, not only will the entrepreneur not make a return, but he also won’t try it again, and he won’t be a role model for others to emulate. The plain truth is there will be no entrepreneurs without strong Intellectual Property Protection. 
 
Over the next two days, talented experts invited by the U.S. Embassy and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology will offer seminars on a wide range of topics including health, education, the environment and sustainable development.  The seminars they will chair will cover such topics as linkages between Research and Education through the Millennium Science Initiative, technology to combat water pollution, and methodology to predict typhoons and floods.  I only wish I had time to go to each one, but I’ll have people there to take notes.
 
As you look around this hall you’ll see that S&T Days is a forum for everything science and not just rockets and computers.  As you tour the display booths here today, resolve to expand S&T cooperation between the United States and Vietnam in the future.  Thank you very much.