Vietnamese, Singaporean developers team up with Singapore university to promote hi-tech development

Vietnam real estate major Becamex IDC, Vietnam-Singapore joint venture VSIP and the National University of Singapore will cooperate to provide high-quality workforce training, advance digitalization and promote medical education research.

The three sides signed a memoranda of understanding (MoU) for the initiative Wednesday in the southern province of Binh Duong.

VSIP, a joint venture between Becamex and Singapore’s Sembcorp, is known as the developer of industrial parks in Vietnam per the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) model.

The three-way cooperation is envisaged to boost workforce development, innovation, startup ecosystem and research & development (R&D) activities.

This will, in turn, improve eco-industrial parks and high-tech services in Binh Duong province in particular and in Vietnam in general.

The initiative will prioritize semiconductors-electronics, digitalization, Industry 4.0, healthcare studies, information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI).

Binh Duong Vice Chairman Nguyen Loc Ha said at the MoU signing ceremony that the initiative reflected strong partnerships between provincial authorities and businesses.

It has the potential to transform Binh Duong from a labor-intensive industrial hub into an economy with high knowledge utilization that can reach a higher level in the global supply chain.

The collaboration was also in line with Binh Duong’s sustainable growth target, which included development of eco-industrial parks using renewable energy and other resources efficiently, he added.

Binh Duong province, a major industrial hub in southern Vietnam, has attracted $1.2 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) so far this year. The province has also lured Jan-Sept domestic investments of VND56,616 billion ($2.25 billion).

According to provincial data, 90.45% of registered FDI flowed into manufacturing and processing in January-August.