Cooperation between Vietnam National University, Hanoi and the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA, France) has been launched since 2003 through a number of personnel training programs and expert exchanges in the Micro and Nano Technology Innovation Campus (MINATEC), the city of Grenoble. In 2009, the two sides signed a cooperation agreement in the field of micro and nanotechnology and integrated circuit design. On the basis of the 2009-2014 period achievements, on July 1, 2015, the two sides signed an agreement to expand cooperation in the area of micro and nanotechnology, integrated circuit design and new energy up to 2020.

VNU Vice President Nguyễn Hữu Đức and Mr. Jean-Charles Guibert
(CEA Director for Technology transfer, MINATEC Director) at the agreement signing ceremony.

In the coming phase, the two sides agreed to continue promoting and upgrading cooperation to implement some strategic development orientations relating to the Internet of Everything and Digital Everywhere: internal circuit element design; future energy, materials and nano-electronic components; prioritizing life service technologies. In particular, the two sides agreed to recommend Mr. Hervé Fanet (Research Director, the Institute for Electronics and Information Technologies under the CEA-LETI) for the position of science and technology development strategy advisor to Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

VNU Vice President Nguyễn Hữu Đức also paid a working visit to Néel Institute, CNRS. The two sides agreed to promote the establishment of a joint international laboratory on the basis of the Laboratory for Micro-Nano Technology of VNU University of Engineering and Technology. Néel Institute also agreed to consult on the development of advanced materials international research programs.

VNU Vice President Nguyễn Hữu Đức works at Néel Institute, CNRS

The CEA is the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives). It is a public body established in October 1945 by General de Gaulle. The CEA is active in four main areas: low-carbon energies, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. In each of these fields, the CEA maintains a cross-disciplinary culture of engineers and researchers, building on the synergies between fundamental and technological research.

Minatec (initially called the Micro and Nanotechnology Innovation Centre) is a European research centre focused on micro-nano technologies in Grenoble, France. The MINATEC innovation campus is home to 2,400 researchers, 1,200 students, and 600 business and technology transfer experts on a 20-hectare state-of-the-art campus with 10,000 m² of clean room space.

The Néel Institute is a large laboratory (400 staff members) involved in physic, chemistry and nanoscience. It is ranked in the top of French laboratories. Lots of techniques are available through internal services.