Brussels (VNA) – Vietnam wants to step up cooperation with countries that have strengths in science-technologylike Belgium, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung has said.

At working sessions with Belgian partners, includingHub.Brussels, Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) and JohnCockerill Group in Brussels on February 20, Dung said Belgium has substantialpotential to cooperate and support Vietnam in new technologies and renewableenergy, especially circuit manufacturing.

Dung led a delegation from ministries, innovationcentres, research institutes and universities to Belgium from February 18-21,aiming to concretise the outcomes of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to the European country in December 2022 regarding innovation cooperation.

Hub.Brussels, the Brussels Agency for BusinessSupport, offers a wide range of free advice, services and tools to help projectsbe successful.

Dung lauded cooperation between the agency and theVietnam National Innovation Centre (NIC), which have agreed on experienceexchange in order to raise innovation and startup capacity of Vietnam and theEuropean Union (EU).

He suggested Hub.Brussels help NIC inoperations, and opened its representative office at NIC Hoa Lac to step up thebilateral cooperation in innovative startup ecosystem development.

The minister assigned NIC and the Vietnam InnovationNetwork in Europe (VINEU) to partner with Hub.Brussels in devising an exchangeprogramme for Vietnamese startups this year.

Annelore Isaac, Deputy Chief Executive Officer atHub.Brussels, expressed her belief in cooperation between the two sides, whichwould cover health care and construction, and affirmed that the agency standsready to support Vietnamese startups.

On this occasion, Hub.Brussels, NIC and VINEUsigned a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in innovation and startup.

At another working session with IMEC, a leadingR&D and innovation hub in Europe in nanoelectronics and digitaltechnologies, Dung stressed that his ministry wants to promote cooperationbetween IMEC with Vietnamese organisations and enterprises, especially in thesemiconductor R&D, thus helping Vietnam join the global semiconductorsupply chain.

He suggested IMEC join hand with NIC and Vietnameseeducational institutions to organise cooperation programmes for students andengineers in the semiconductor industry.

A MoU on collaboration in the semiconductor industrywas also inked by IMEC and NIC on this occasion, under which IMEC will considerbuilding an R&D centre in the Southeast Asian nation.

Driven since 1817 by the entrepreneurial spirit andpassion for innovation of its founder, the John Cockerill Group developed large-scale technological solutions to meet the needs of its time.

Meeting with John Cockerill representatives, Dung emphasisedthat Vietnam hopes for comprehensive cooperation with the group in energy,saying it should become Vietnam’s strategic partner through cooperationprogrammes as well as R&D and investment projects.

John Cockerill's leaders said the group wants to make comprehensive andstrategic investment in Vietnam, thus further serving the Southeast Asian andNortheast Asian markets.

The group expects to focus on solutions regardingenergy transition, including biomass, hydrogen and low-carbon ones, they noted.

John Cockerill and NIC reached a MoU on this occasion,under which the Belgian group would invest in green hydrogen R&D at theVietnamese centre and labs for biomass fuel products, and develop productsrelating to cooling technology in power plants and industries./.