On December 30th, the Department of Science and Technology held the 2017 employees’ meeting with the participation of more than 100 officers, employees and workers. The meeting saw the presence of Mr. Mai Thanh Quang - Secretary of the Department Party and Director of the Department and Mr. Nguyen Viet Dung - Chairman of the Provincial Trade Union for government employees.

At the meeting, a video report which summary last year’s activities by the Department was showed, highlighting important activities during the year. In 2017, the Department of Science and Technology advised the provincial People's Committee several important documents. Those included the Decision No. 3380/QD-UBND on the provincial Plan to support innovative startups of Ba Ria – Vung Tau (BR-VT) province in the period 2016-2020. The plan aims to concretize the objectives and contents of the National Program "Supporting the National Innovative Startup Ecosystem by 2025" and to support at least 200 startup projects and 50 startups in the 2016-2020 period. Other important documents included the Decision to approve the list of provincially funded scientific and technological researches and projects in 2016; the Decision of approving the implementation of approved S&T researches and pilot projects by selected proposals; the Decision to issue regulation on awarding annual science and technology Awards; the Decision on funding regulation of the provincial Science and Technology Development Fund; decisions regarding the development the technical regulation for cage aquaculture in river mouths in BR-VT province and the Plan to promote internship of government officers in international research organizations during the 2016-2020 period.

Capacity in technology management and radiation safety was strengthened during 2016. The Department approved licenses relating to nuclear and radiation safety in the province. Those included 18 X-ray equipment licenses, 12 permits for working with radiation sources, 6 licenses for level 3 of public services involving radiation sources, and one permit for transportation of radiation goods for Water Supply J.S.C of Ba Ria Vung Tau province. The department also conducted a rehearsal for radiation emergency response on 15-16th of December at Dong Xuyen Industrial Park, Vung Tau City.

 Regarding the management of quality, metrology and standards, in 2016, the Department approved 27 standard publications and 27 mandatory standards for 7 organizations, updated 1233 Technical Barriers to Trade warning notes from WTO members and posted 144 news related to Technical Barriers to Trade and quality metrology and standards posted on department’s website, provided information of 59 National Quality Standards (TCVN and QCVN) for companies and organizations. In 2016, 13.369 measuring devices from 1.474 organizations were verified, 3.330 certifications were issued and 5.372 stamps granted to satisfactory measuring devices.

 On business supporting policy, significant results were achieved when implementing the provincial science and technology Program to support businesses enhancing productivity and product quality. In 2016 the department received 89 new applications and approved to provide support for 41 companies and organizations with a total funding of 2.638,4 million dong. 46 projects with 2.012,7 million government funding were completed in 2016.

On inspection and legislation side, the Department conducted ​​06/06 inspection programs on quality, metrology and standards, intellectual property, trademarks and labels, and nuclear and radiation safety. There were a total of 139 organizations inspected, of which 3 misconducts were found with fines totaling 36.928.000 VND.

The Science and Technology Information and Statistics Center achieved impressive results in 2016. The Center edited and published 66.900 news, 4 bulletins and 01 special issue on scientific research studies and application projects. Those included 2696 news on the department’s Vietnamese website and 1234 news on the English website. They resulted in 1.625.157 views for the Vietnamese site and 208.992 views for the English site. 100 videos on science and technology on rural development were published in 2016. The Center successfully launched the online technology exchange of Ba Ria- Vung Tau province. Since its trial operation on May 18, there have been 634 suppliers registered with over 2,500 product offers, 135 organizations registered to provide consultancy on the online platform. 

The Center of Application Science and Technology carried 02 pilot production projects and other 14 regular tasks. The two projects are "Planting mangrove belt to develop natural ecological protection for the the pilot barrier of Co May Bridge" and "Repairing and upgrading the solar power system at Con Dao National Park stations in Con Dao District".

 According to Mr. Mai Thanh Quang, Director of the Department of Science and Technology, Department promptly advised the provincial People's Committee to implement Party’s policies of the Party, State laws and regulations in science and technology at the provincial level. Professional activities in science and technology at the Department have been gradually improved and qualifications of officials have significantly enhanced to meet the ever increasing job requirements. In 2016, a shift to an increase in state funding for science and technology programs was made, providing sufficient resource for the completion of tasks assigned.

Not only speaking of achievements, Mr. Quang also pointed out some limitations of Department’s activities in 2016. Some of them were the slow implementation of a few assigned tasks, the difficulties in developing operation plan of the Department’s business-units in line with Circular No. 121/TT-BKHCN dated 28/08/2014 issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the lack of quality human resources and limited international cooperation activities in science and technology. The Director encouraged department employees to overcome difficulties in order to achieve higher performance this year.  Mr. Quang also recognized department’s officials and employees’ encouraging effort last year and stimulate them to overcome work difficulties to achieve higher performance this year.

At the end of the meeting, Mr. Quang launched the department-wide emulation movement among officials and employees. Department’s offices and units also signed to start the emulation movement in their offices in 2017. Outstanding individuals and units were awarded certificates of merit for their excellendt achievement in 2016. Finally, participants voted for and adopted the 2017 employees meeting resolution of the Department of Science and Technology.