State Secretary Martina Hirayama exchanged views with Deputy Minister Bui The Duy on new developments in the science sector in both Switzerland and Vietnam. Both sides presented their respective national priorities for research and innovation funding. Bilateral research and innovation cooperation and its possible deepening was a further focus of the discussion.

Scientific relations between Switzerland and Vietnam are good and are based on various instruments. Since 1 October 2019, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology have had a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen bilateral cooperation on science and technology between the research communities of the two countries.

SERI has mandated ETH Zurich as the Leading House for scientific cooperation with Southeast Asia for the 2021-2024 funding period. Within this framework, ETH Zurich is launching cooperation instruments for start-up funding and innovative pilot projects. There has also been an agreement between the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Vietnamese National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) since 2020 to strengthen cooperation. The SNSF and NAFOSTED successfully launched a first joint call for proposals in 2020. Funding instruments also include the Federal Excellence Scholarships, which have enabled a total of 120 Vietnamese researchers to spend time at a Swiss university since 1961.

State Secretary Martina Hirayama receives Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Science and Technology