The launch ceremony was attended by Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Pereric Hogberg and other senior officials.
The IoT Innovation Hub was founded under the memorandum of understanding signed at the end of 2018 in Hanoi between the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ericsson. It is expected to provide favorable conditions to innovative startups working in the IoT space, enhance research activities and support research groups in developing new IoT-based applications.
The foundation of the center has also marked the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Sweden bilateral ties.
Targeting mobile service suppliers, enterprises, students, startups and researchers in the country, the IoT Innovation Hub will motivate and allow users to apply, test and develop IoT applications. Furthermore, it will support researchers and firms in commercializing their products.
Importantly, the hub will offer an innovative technical foundation for tapping the potential of Vietnam in the fourth industrial revolution.
Located in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park, Vietnam’s largest hi-tech park, where big domestic and international companies, like Viettel, VNPT, FPT, Vingroup, VKIST, Nissan Techno, NIDEC and Hanwha, have their R&D centers and hi-tech production facilities, the hub will be not only a service supplier but also a connector and coordinator for companies in large cooperation projects.
“The establishment and operation of the IoT Innovation Hub play an important role in strengthening the two countries’ bilateral relationship and contributing to building an innovation foundation in Vietnam,” Chu Ngoc Anh, Minister of Science and Technology, noted at the launch ceremony for the hub.
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Delegates view exhibited products |
Addressing the event, Denis Brunetti, head of Ericsson in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, remarked that the hub would bolster the cooperation efforts of the State authorities, firms and research institutes in advancing the “Vietnam Innovation Network” program, which was announced by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on August 19, 2018.
The IoT Innovation Hub will extend the knowledge of IoT and related technologies in the 4.0 era, as well as become a training and education center for students in Vietnam, Denis added.
Besides this, during the launch ceremony, the management board of Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park signed a support cooperation agreement with VNPT Technology, Viettel, FPT University, University of Engineering and Technology-Vietnam National University in Hanoi, and School of Information and Communication Technology-Hanoi University of Science and Technology. The agreement was aimed at boosting the operations of the hub.
At the launch ceremony, a series of programs were introduced, including training courses, seminars and the “IoT Innovation Challenge” contest. The contest will be a key part of the hub’s operations in 2019, aimed at encouraging creative ideas.
Translated by Thu Nguyen