On 21/01/2011, NAFOSTED held a conference to summarize the work in 2010 and implement the work in 2011. Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology cum Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the NAFOSTED, Mr. Le Dinh Tien chaired the conference.
The participants are members of the Board of Trustees, Vice President of 15 Science Committees in natural science, social sciences and humanities, representatives and specialists from entities affiliated to the Ministry of Science and Technology, reputable scientists representing basic research field; representatives of businesses funded by the Foundation under the decree 119/1999/NĐ-CP of the Government.
At the conference. Mr. Phan Hong Son, director of the NAFOSTED reported the work in 2010 and the plan for 2011. After 2 years in operations, the Foundation has funded 480 projects of basic research in natural science, 106 in social sciences and humanities, 5 under the Vietnam-Belgium cooperation program and many more emerging projects with a total approved funding of 412 billion VND.
The implementation of grant programs for basic research was managed innovatively and marked clearly the role of the Foundation in the improvement of the national research quality to close the gap with developed countries. In 2010. the funding for research projects doubled compared to 2009. Even though new in operation, the Foundation rapidly affirmed its role and position in research support activities at the national level. The Foundation has gradually become a brand of quality of scientific research funding in Vietnam and acknowledged by the scientists community.
In 2011, the Foundation will keep implementing the funding programs from previous years, as well as intensify research support activities for scientists to encourage international cooperation and make Vietnam a destination for important international scientific activities.
At the conference, the scientists, managers and members of the Board of Trustees shared their opinions and discussed with the representatives about previous accomplishments. Vice Minister Le Dinh Tien praised and spoke highly of the Foundation’s achievements, also emphasized that the Foundation has taken the right path to innovate the management mechanism, which is strengthening the relationship between the administrators and scientists and contributed to research quality improvement in Vietnam to attain international research standard.