Seminar between University of Transport and Communications and Hanoi Department of Science and Technology, Hanoi Department of Transport

To strengthen the cooperation in scientific research activities, on August 22, 2023, the University of Transport and Communications (UTC) in collaboration with Hanoi Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Hanoi Department of Transport (DOT) organized the Seminar "Some solutions to effectively implement the program No. 07-CTr/TU of the City Party Committee orienting a number of city-level science and technology tasks in 2023 and the following years for the transport sector”.

Participants took a souvenir photo.

This is a special program to celebrate cooperation in scientific research and technology transfer between the parties since 2019.

The seminar was attended by Mr. Nguyen Hong Son - Director of Hanoi DOST, Mr. Nguyen Phi Thuong - Director of Hanoi DOT, Mr. Do Viet Hai - Deputy Director of Hanoi DOT, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hong Tien – Former Director of the Department of Technical Infrastructure, Ministry of Construction, and representatives of the leaders of the two departments. 

On the side of the UTC, there were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Long - President, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Chuong - Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice President, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Hoai Duc - Vice President, and representatives of faculties and functional departments. The program is also honored to have the participation of leading professors in the transport industry currently working at the UTC such as Prof. Dr. Pham Huy Khang, Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Nhiem, Prof. Dr. Pham Van Ky, Prof. TS. Bui Xuan Cay, Prof. Dr. Tu Sy Sua, Prof. Dr. Do Duc Tuan, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duy Viet, Dr. Tran Huu Minh (Chief Office of National Traffic Safety Committee)… and some other scientists.

Overview of the seminar

Speaking at the Seminar, Mr. Nguyen Hong Son - Director of Hanoi DOST raised the issue: "The upcoming city-level science and technology projects will be ordered based on the reality and development needs of the City. Right from the time of developing the implementation outline, it is necessary to clarify the application address, which state management unit will coordinate to support the application? The UTC is a strategic partner, providing qualified and reputable scientists, implementing city-level science and technology projects since 2018; Until 2019, the University and the Department signed a cooperation agreement to propose solutions, contribute ideas to develop mechanisms and policies, criticize science and technology tasks, and jointly apply science and technology products in the field of science and technology into practice in Hanoi. Proposals for implementation until 2030 need scientific support from the UTC for the proposals to be feasible and in line with the urgent needs of the City. Instead of suggestions from the State Management Agencies, it will be subjective, arranged, not enough scientific content."

Mr. Nguyen Hong Son – Director of Hanoi DOST made a speech.

The representative of the Hanoi DOT, Mr. Nguyen Phi Thuong - Director of the Department said: “The UTC is a training, scientific research and technology transfer institution with a long history and tradition. In recent years, the DOT has cooperated with the University to carry out many key traffic projects of the city such as inspection of large bridges, inspection, maintainance and repair of many arterial routes, organization of traffic at special intersections.… Realizing the important role of scientific research in the transport industry, there are still many difficulties in policy mechanisms, therefore, in the coming time, the DOT is looking forward to the attention of the DOST, focusing on resources for scientific research in transportation, collaborating with prestigious, enthusiastic and experienced scientists from the UTC. Thereby, scientific products will have high applicability to solve persistent and urgent problems which still exist in Hanoi's transportation”. 

Mr. Nguyen Phi Thuong – Director of Hanoi DOT made a speech.

Responding to the attention and responsibility of the leaders of the two departments, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Long – President of the University affirmed: “The University of Transport and Communications is a leading training, research and technology transfer institution in the transport industry, currently located in Hanoi city, therefore, the University side realizes that it is necessary to contribute to the overall development of the whole city. The UTC has carried out a total of 07 city-level projects under Program 01C-04, the projects have been accepted with an assessment from Fair to Excellent. However, the number and budget for implementation is still modest, "single". It makes the topics not continuous. Besides, the products have not come to practical application, the gray matter from scientists has not been fully utilized. The orientation of the University in the coming time is that the University will receive the outstanding issues that need to be studied and handled from the Hanoi Department of Transport, then edit, comment and propose to the Hanoi Department of Science and Technology so the upcoming proposals comes right into practice, has high scientific content, and solves the persistent problems that the City's leaders and people are concerned about. Along with that, it is proposed to the DOT to put more titles and requirements for adjacent human resources, so that the University can use it as a basis for training, ensuring quality human resources being suitable for Hanoi's characteristics.”

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Long – President of the University made a speech.

In order to overcome the existing limitations in the process of implementing city-level science and technology projects, Prof. Dr. Do Duc Tuan said: “For scientists, administrative procedures are a pressing issue when implementing scientific topics. Due to the peculiarities of policy mechanisms that have not yet supported scientists, the implementation of science and technology projects still has many obstacles in terms of administrative procedures, making scientists easily discouraged when implementing. The cooperation with departments, agencies and state management agencies is still difficult when applying science and technology products into reality in the city.” 

Prof. Dr. Do Duc Tuan – Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UTC gave a speech.

Supporting the above idea, Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Nhiem proposed: “The urgent issues and current problems of Hanoi need the city's own mechanism to conduct research urgently, seriously and to be coordinated between scientists and state management agencies, outlining other solutions and approaches to the problem to completely solve the backlog instead of temporarily solving it, wasting the City's resources.

Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Nhiem – Faculty of Civil Engineering, UTC gave a speech.

Besides the above comments, Prof. Dr. Pham Huy Khang said: “Currently, scientific and technological projects have been accepted with very good results. However, there are no statistics on scientific products that have or have not been applied to the City. Whether these products have been commercialized or not, do the state management agencies propose policies or mechanisms to commercialize science and technology products. That helps scientific research go into the true nature, scientists have more motivation to continue dedicating to the Capital, the management agencies can effectively use the budget to solve the current persistent problems in the City to the fullest extent."

Prof. Dr. Pham Huy Khang – Faculty of Civil Engineering, UTC gave a speech.

Speaking at the conclusion and closing of the Seminar, Mr. Nguyen Hong Son - Director of Hanoi Department of Science and Technology thanked, shared and acknowledged the interest and contribution of the UTC to the general development of the Capital in general, for transport sector in particular. He said that the direction of socio-economic development and transportation in the coming time still has many problems for further research, and needs help from the UTC’s experts. Therefore, it is necessary to consult the scientists of the University, make proposals suitable to the conditions of the city. In addition, he also shared with the difficulties of scientists in the process of technology transfer, problems with the mechanism in administrative documentation procedures when implementing the project, accompanying the scientists to remove the difficulties step by step. In the coming time, the Department of Science and Technology proposes a policy of separating research work from product application in practice, scientists from the University only carry out research activities, while the commercialization of products is carried out. Scientific and technological products need to be implemented by a State management unit, supporting their application in practice in Hanoi, focusing on main goals such as developing static traffic, managing and exploiting underground space, urban development planning, implementation of the Capital Law, etc.

ICDS