Science, Technology Play Big Part In Nation's Sustainability

Le Hung Vong

HCM CITY (VNS)— The theme, Science Parks toward a Green Economy, of this year's Asian Science Park Association conference follows Viet Nam's sustainable development principles, Nguyen Quan, the minister of Science and Technology, said yesterday.

In his keynote speech at the opening of the 16th ASPA conference yesterday, Quan pointed out that the Vietnamese government had signed the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992 and had established a National Council for Sustainable Development in September 2005.

In the last decade, Viet Nam had shown improvements in major socio-economic sectors through the application of scientific and technological research, he said.

"Mineral resources have been more wisely and...

effectively exploited, and technological know-how and high-tech works have been supported by the community and applied by businesses in accordance with national policies on expanding scientific and technological development," Quan said.

The two-day conference has attracted more than 140 scientists and managers from science parks, universities and institutes, with more than half of them from 20 countries and territories in Asia.

The conference aims to share learning experiences from the region's most successful science parks.

Topics for discussion include international cooperation among hi-tech parks, and collaboration between enterprises and research institutes in science parks.

Attendees also discuss how to balance human resources for high-tech and traditional industries, government support for science parks, and development of high-tech business incubation to enhance economic growth with a green GDP.

At the meeting yesterday, HCM City officials spoke about the municipality's ongoing efforts in scientific and technological development and the steps being taken to create a knowledge economy.

Le Hoang Quan, chairman of the city's People's Committee, said the conference would offer science-park managers and scientists an opportunity to discuss how to boost the role of science parks in creating a knowledge economy in Asian countries.

"In my opinion, this is the common target of ASPA members, and also a goal targeted by the leadership of HCM City for the development of a city with a population of 10 million that is also the country's economic and scientific-technological hub," he said.

Yesterday afternoon, delegates at the conference visited the Sai Gon Hi-Tech Park (SHP) in HCM City's District 9.

Projects

Le Hoai Quoc, head of SHP's management board, said the park had attracted 66 investment projects. It currently houses 61 projects with registered capital of US$2,219 million.

Foreign investors in the park include the chip manufacturer Intel and electronic components manufacturer Jabil, both from the US, and Nidec from Japan and Datalogic from Italy.

Speaking yesterday at the opening session, Jong Hyun Lee, president of ASPA, said he wanted to "see your special interest and participation so that we can present new models of science parks, and discuss them at this conference."

He explained that "science park" was the general term for a number of park models that promote the high-tech industry and assume leading roles in local economies.

About 50 years ago, the first science and research parks were established in the US and Europe, with later models such as techno, techno-polis, business and cluster parks.

"We're living in a globalised world and the key components of industry such as capital, technology, information and labour have become more movable. There is more focus now on software-like parks that emphasise knowledge and information, rather than hardware-like parks that need a lot of land," Lee said.

"We need to think of software-like parks that combine the functions of science, technology and business in the future. To have industry, university and government as a united body, we need to put effort into research and development and foster industry and develop policies at local government levels," he added.

"I believe the Sai Gon High-Tech Park has to play a major role in providing a platform for cooperation, leading innovation, and supporting international networking," he said.

Lee said he hoped that ASPA could broaden its activities so that each specialised park in the Asian region could collaborate effectively. — VNS