Together with education and training, the Institute of Technology and Special Engineering (ITSE) has always paid attention to promoting scientific research in the field of military and special engineering to meet the requirements of the military and defence tasks as well as the country’s economic development.

ITSE is an affiliate of the Military Technological Academy being tasked with training military technological engineers at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in defence engineering, geodesy, geo-informatics; studying science and technology in engineering; surveying, designing, evaluating the quality of projects; consulting, technological transferring in engineering. Recently, despite difficulties in human resources, budget, infrastructure, cadres and staffs of the institute have heightened their responsibility, accomplished hundreds of scientific projects at different levels, contributing to the development of military science and the country’s economy. Notable projects can be named as: Solutions for building defence projects on the Spratly Islands; Solutions for making camouflage material in high-tech warfare; Technical solutions for building bridge in mountainous villages of Northwestern region; The group project of national plan of air-defence, army air-defence, border patrol route, border posts; military ports and airbases; military installations, etc.

Besides the achievements, there still remain some limitations in the Institute’s scientific research, namely: the quantity of the projects remains low, especially the basic research projects; some projects didn’t meet the deadline and fell short of quality expectation; the labs and specialized study rooms haven’t been utilized, etc. There are some main causes to these limitations, such as: budget allocated for the projects is limited; some projects didn’t stick closely to reality; material base and the level, capability of the Institute’s staff as well as its managerial mechanism have yet to keep pace with the developments of requirements and missions, etc.

Colonel Nguyen Tri Ta chairs a research project evaluating session

In the current situation, the missions of developing the Military and protecting the Fatherland have raised a number of issues for the Institute to settle in the fields of military engineering, civilian defence, search and rescue, particularly measures in response to the enemy's modern and high-tech warfare. Fully aware of the new requirements, as a top institute in military and special engineering, the ITSE has always been proactive in seeking measures for overcoming difficulties and limitations to enhance its research level and quality and provide valuable scientific products serving for defence and security missions and the country’s economic development.

 First, the institute strengthens its leadership, direction, management and operation over the scientific research work. Sticking closely to its functions, missions as well as upper directions and instructions, the Institute has directed its Council for science and training to study and grasp the world development trend in weapon, equipment, military technology; the plan and demand for constructing military projects of the Ministry of National Defence, and of military units, etc., to propose directions for research, academic studies and for launching new research projects relevant to the reality. In particular, emphasis has been placed on fundamental and applied researches; traditional research is linked with research of the 4IR’s achievements with synchronicity, in-depth, and systematization.

To realize that goal, the Institute develops its majors into substantial academic groups; applies decentralization in research; perfects its operational mechanism and financial regulations as basis for the making of research plan, acceptance of the project and for disbursement, and builds the roadmap of fulfillment suitable with the progress of the projects and closely manage detailed plan of the projects. During the implementation, the Institute requires project owners to make detailed plan, clearly state their plan, and assign each participant with specific responsibility to make it easy for inspection and collaboration. Besides, the Institute directs its majors to allocate time for the researchers to fulfill the projects on schedule. In order to increase the number of projects, the Institute applies decentralization and increases autonomy to each collective and individual; encourages the researchers to conduct Institute-level projects and uphold their activeness, creativity and grasp the emerging matters and the demands of units military-wide to launch new projects.

Second, closely attach scientific research to training. This is an important solution, meeting the requirements and missions of the Institute both in the long and short run. Implementing the guideline of “scientific must go ahead”, the Institute broadens its sphere of research, improve the quality and increase the quantity of projects. It has focused on renewing the contents of all kinds of training; open new majors of post-graduate and second-degree education and establish cooperation in short training courses; study to supplement and update contents for its system of material given the evolution of the 4IR.

Third, develop its human resource and research material base on par with mission. In the modern scientific research, human factor plays the decisive role. With this perception, the Institute has focused on developing an adequate and high-qualified staff being capable of fulfilling their mission with required qualifications. In particular, it pays attention to selecting, planning, supplementing the researching staff with appropriate structure; priority is given to the new, spearhead and important fields. At the same time, emphasis is placed on the training of cadres, especially the leading cadres of majors, with different methods of training, such as: basic training, in-service training; participating in scientific consultation; writing books and journals; utilizing research equipment, etc., so that they are capable of conducting research, doing teamwork, and effectively utilizing the existing materials. Regular training is considered as the basis for developing a staff of top specialists in each field of research and the establishment of substantial research groups for ready to fulfill assigned by upper levels and for international cooperation. The Institute proposes new investments to modernize its research equipment, managerial software, and build a mock field for conducting researches relating to explosion, demolition, complicated environment, etc. with high accuracy to generate high technological basis to enhance the capability and quality of training and researching, particularly for intensive researching.

Fourth, strengthen cooperation in scientific research. This is an important solution for enhancing the capability, quality and effectiveness of research. In recent years, , the Institute has established relations and cooperation with other institutions of the Military to accomplish its mission of researching and been highly appreciated by the State Council for Science and the Ministry of National Defense. However, the cooperation has yet to be diversified and is still limited in the military field and traditional research directions. In the coming time, it will widen its cooperation with both Military and civilian institutions, especially the Engineering Command, the Department of Barracks, the Department of Search and Rescue, etc., to conduct practical research projects. At the same time, it will coordinate with the scientific councils of units military-wide to carry out joint-project and apply the research results. By this way, it will increase the number of projects and accelerate the application of research outcome in reality and collect important data for subsequent research. In addition, the Institute will collaborate closely with units of the Military Technology Academy, with the top specialists and researchers and domestic scientific institutions to make it capable to conduct big projects of the Ministry of National Defence. Furthermore, it will co-operate the world top experts, and foreign scientific institutions of Czech, Russia, Australia, etc., to open new fields of research. On the other hand, it will strengthen its consultancy service in the field of engineering, provide scientific-technological service; gradually enhance its credibility and competitiveness in the market; maintain a budget for supporting research projects of Institute and Academy-levels; organize and participate in scientific conferences and announce international-level research results.

Colonel, Assoc., Prof., Doctor Nguyen Tri Ta, Director of the Institute