Pioneers among overseas Vietnamese intellectuals

In order to effectively mobilise the overseas Vietnamese intellectuals in the country’s development, pioneering individuals and organizations play the role of leaders, paving the way, leading, connecting, and promoting total strength.

In recent years, various networks of experts and intellectuals have been established, attracting a large number of Vietnamese scholars, postgraduate students, and scientists around the world. What has made such a strong movement possible?

“Leading birds”
Since its establishment in 2011 in France, the network of the Association of Vietnamese Scientists and Experts Global (AVSE Global) led by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duc Khuong as the Chairman, has been present in over 20 countries with about 10 thousand members who are intellectuals desirng to contribute positively to the homeland’s development.

AVSE Global attracts and engages the collective intellectual power of this team through policy reports, strategic consulting at central and local levels, senior management training, professional forums, and research and development programs. All of these activities aim to bring breakthrough results in sustainable development for Vietnam.

In particular, Chairman Nguyen Duc Khuong and AVSE Global' members are building platforms to transform global scientific knowledge into understandings that directly serve production, business, and social progress.

The organization annually organizes the Hack4Growth Innovation Contest with the goal of creating a playground to find innovative solutions for Vietnam, and forming a forum for influential Vietnamese people (Vietnam Global Leaders Forum - VGLF).

Mr. Khuong said: “Our desire is to fully promote the strength of Vietnamese people to contribute to the country’s sustainable and prosperous development. VGLF is a strategy to attract talents and build necessary resources for our country in the knowledge economy."

It can be seen that the establishment of AVSE Global has completely contributed to inspiring the formation of many networks of Vietnamese experts and intellectuals in other countries.

In Japan, the Association of Vietnamese Intellectuals in Japan (AVIJ) officially launched in 2019, marking an important new development for Vietnamese intellectuals here. On the basis of gathering strength from the Vietnamese Academic Network in Japan, the Association of Vietnamese Experts in Japan, and the Vietnamese Youth and Students Association in Japan, AVIJ has organized positive activities, including prominent Vietnamese Intellectual Forums, aiming to promote the intelligence and enthusiasm of Vietnamese intellectuals for the country, community, as well as the two countries’ relations.

In the UK and Ireland, Vietnamese intellectuals also have shown their devotions to the Fatherland with increasingly diverse forms of activities. Since its establishment in 2020, the Vietnamese Intellectuals Association in the UK and Ireland (VIS) has successfully organized many seminars and events about science, work, and helping young members in scientific research and finding research funds in the UK, as well as connecting and building cooperative relations between Vietnam - UK and Vietnam - Ireland.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Huan, President of VIS, said that the Association currently has over 120 members, including 14 professors, 35 associate professors, and the rest are senior lecturers, and postdoctoral researchers in more than 30 professions at nearly 70 universities.

The Association’s goal is to build a strong intellectual community, where predecessors share experiences with successors; continue to connect with Vietnamese universities, businesses, and technology companies, participating in policy consulting for the Vietnamese government, ministries, and sectors.

“Together we can change the world”
In an interview, Dr. Le Quy Vang, a senior expert in data science at Aalborg University (Denmark) believes that it is necessary to join hands in building a strong human resources team to serve our country’s construction and development since “together we can change the world”.

Since becoming President of the Association of Vietnamese Experts and Intellectuals in Denmark, Dr. Le Quy Vang brought that spirit to gather and connect Vietnamese experts and intellectuals working and studying here to promote the abilities and intelligence of each individual into collective strength.

The expectation of total strength of Mr. Vang and many other leaders are understandable because in addition to the increasing appearance of networks of experts and intellectuals (such as Switzerland and the Netherlands), the Vietnam Innovation Network (VIN) is increasingly expanding to other countries.

As one of the first members of VIN abroad, the Vietnam Innovation Network in Australia (NIC AU) was launched with the vision of promoting innovation exchange and technology transfer between Australia, other advanced countries, and Vietnam.

According to Dr. Tran Phi Vu - Chairman of NIC AU, the network focuses on strongly promoting smart agriculture in Vietnam by organizing seminars and connecting with leading agricultural institutes and universities in the two countries. NIC AU also accompanies ministries, departments, sectors, and agricultural businesses to provide specific solutions for Vietnamese agriculture.

In Taiwan (China), Dr. Vo Duc Thang, President of VIN Taiwan said that the Vietnamese intellectual community here will continue to expand its membership, organize start-up support seminars, and build Taiwan's Science and Technology collection.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Phuoc, representative of the Vietnam Innovation Network in Korea (VINK) also affirmed that the network aims to build a Vietnamese scientific community in Korea, such as scientific consulting, start-up support, and technology transfer consulting in high-tech agriculture.

According to Dr. Nguyen Viet Anh, President of Vietnam Innovation Network in Europe (VINEU), the network is implementing main activities including consulting - training, investment - business connection, and developing scientific and technological intellectual community.

The new member of VIN was established in 2022 on the West Coast of the United States, gathering a large number of Vietnamese intellectuals working in universities and large technology corporations such as Facebook, Google, Nasa, and Cisco.

Emphasizing the positive results from the VIN network abroad, Mr. Vu Quoc Huy, Director of the National Innovation Center believes these are solid stepping stones to promote Vietnamese innovation, as well as gather and promote Vietnamese intellectuals globally.