V-KIST, a research institute to be set up in accordance with the South Korean Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) will be set up in Vietnam.

Capitalized at $150 million, V-KIST project is hoped to generate a perfect research environment for international scientists, according to Dr. Mai Ha, Director of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST).

The specific institute will be covered by a specific law

Ha said V-KIST would focus on three scientific research fields, including the material technology, biotechnology to serve agriculture and healthcare, and the information technology to serve the digital technology.

The project would develop in two phases. The first phase, from 2013 to 2017, would be the time for the construction and general design.

It is expected that the general design would be completed by 2014, while the construction of one main block and three other blocks for research and development (R&D), the equipment procurement and training school establishment would be done.

The first phase of the project is believed to cost $70 million, of which $35 million would be sourced from South Korean non-refundable aid.

The second phase of the project would be implemented in 2018-2022 with the capital mostly from ODA (official development assistance), estimated at $50-80 million.

Vietnam is moving fast ahead with the project. The feasibility study is being made, while a place has been found for the institute and a project management unit has been established.

When asked if it is a big waste to spend VND3 trillion to build an institute while Vietnam has the Science & Technology Academy and a key laboratory system already, Ha said V-KIST would follow its own way.

In 1996, when building KIST, South Korea also had a research institute system like Vietnam’s already. KIST has been covered by a special mechanism. It receives the highest commitments from the highest leaders in South Korea. It is not covered by the budget law, and does not have to have report audits.

KIST carries out research works to the orders of the big South Korean industrial groups. This explains why the majority of the technology applications in some industries and big economic groups come from KIST.

“V-KIST in Vietnam would also go in accordance with the model,” Ha said.

A new-style scientific colony?

While MST remains optimistic about V-KIST, scientists do not. Professor Nguyen Van Tuan from New South Wales University has expressed his worry that such a model may turn Vietnam into a new-style scientific colony.

He stressed that Vietnam needs to develop science and technology with its inner strength, while the auspices from KIST would make Vietnam more reliable on foreign countries.

According to Tuan, in the countries with developed sciences, the international cooperation proportion is about 30-40 percent. Meanwhile, according to SCImago, a country would be considered “dependent” if having the proportion at 80 percent.

Every year, Vietnamese scientists make public some 1,000 scientific articles on international journals. Of these, 70-80 percent is the research works done in cooperation with foreign authors. The proportion is higher, at 85 percent in biomedical industry.

Tuan also emphasized that it is KAIST, not KIST, is the “propulsive force” for South Korean science.