On May 16th, 2023, University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) had a meeting with Khon Kaen University (KKU – Thailand) and The Makerbox Laos (MBL) on the cooperation plan for the upcoming time.
Participating in the meeting, on the side of USTH was Assoc. Prof. Tran Dinh Phong – Vice Rector, Dr. To Thi Mai Huong – Deputy Director of Direction of Research, Innovation, and Technology Transfer (DRITT), Dr. Hoang Trung Kien – Director of Department of Energy, Dr. Mai Huong – Deputy Director of Department of Water – Environment – Oceanography, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Truong – Project Investigator of Fablab USTH, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Ha – Lecturer of Department of Information and Communication Technology, Ms. Nguyen Phuong Nhi – Department of International Cooperation; on the side of KKU was Prof. Watis Leelapatra – Director of Innovation and Engineering Service Center; on the side of MBL was Mr. Derek Spranger – Co-founder and CTO, Mr. Konemany Kanlaya – Co-founder and CSE, Ms. Pathoumphone Khounthalyvong – Senior Researcher and Development Engineer (Smart farm).
After welcoming the delegates, the three parties introduced their overview information and development plans.
University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) is a public university established in 2009 within the framework of the Intergovernmental Agreement between the two countries Vietnam and France with the orientation of becoming an excellent world-class university training in science and technology. The University cooperates with the prestigious universities and research institutes in France to co-award Master’s degrees and opens a Vietnam-France double degree program for 3 majors. An unique feature of USTH’s training program is that students are introduced and supported to find internship opportunities for 3-6 months abroad. An average of 60% of USTH’s students have had the opportunity to do internships at universities and research institutes in France and many other countries with advanced science and technology in Europe and Asia such as Germany, Finland, Italia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc.
Supported by University of Science and Technology of Hanoi and The Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (Francophonie University Association, AUF), Fablab USTH provides international standard equipments to support members, implement many activities such as: training, seminar, contest, project, ecosystem expansion. The purpose of the project is to create a creative space that helps individuals and organizations transform ideas into specific products and models. This is an open space and public access that welcomes all communities including students, creative people, startups, companies,… to meet, study, research, share and collaborate on the activities.
Khon Kaen University (KKU) was established as the major university in the northeastern part of Thailand in 1964 and has since devoted itself to becoming one of the top universities in Thailand. KKU currently has more than 40,000 students studying in 19 faculties, 3 colleges, 1 school, and 2 campuses. EN KKU Maker Space was established in 2020 as an academic service unit of the Faculty of Engineering KKU to create a learning creativity environment for students, provide space, tools, instructors to support prototyping and learning for engineering students, staffs. EN KKU Maker Space offers regular and tailored training courses such as Line-following robot, Python programming for kids, Little innovator (for kids); Introduction to data science with Python (for professional) and IoT for high-school students, Introduction to electronics.
The Makerbox Lao (MBL) is a collaborative work space for making, learning, exploring and sharing that uses high tech to no tech tools for kids, adults, and entrepreneurs. The Makerbox Lao is funded by several organizations, will run as a not-for-profit entity, with the ultimate goal of being self-sustaining when ideas generated by participants in Makerbox Lao are launched into the market.
After the introduction, the representatives of universities and organizations discussed the tentative cooperation plans in the future, especially in main topics such as International Hackathon, International Competition, Training on common interest topics, Staff exchange, Co-develop innovation.
The discussion focused on organizing international competitions for students from three countries: Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. As suggested, the competitions will be related to Hackathon, Makeathon, data science, data processing, programming or AI. Speaking at the meeting, Assoc. Prof. Tran Dinh Phong – Vice Rector of USTH and Dr. To Thi Mai Huong – Deputy Director of DRITT recommended some basic steps to organize the first competition which are calling for participants, organizing online courses for students to understand more about the topic of the competition, and calling for sponsorships. Also at the meeting, Mr. Derek Spranger – Co-founder and CTO of MBL and Prof. Watis Leelapatra – Director of Innovation and Engineering Service Center of KKU shared their experiences in organizing IT competitions in Laos and Thailand as well as their desire to collaborate with USTH in innovation research.
At the end of the meeting, the representatives of USTH and Khon Kaen University (Thailand) and The Makerbox Laos agreed with the cooperation proposals and expressed their desire to develop a stronger long-term cooperation relationship. The universities and organization look forward to further discussions in the upcoming meetings with representatives from their departments and hope to sign the Memorandum of Understanding soon.
