On May 29, 2023, Vietnam Japan University (VJU) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) held a signing ceremony of a memorandum of cooperation and a seminar on the automatic machine translation of Vietnamese and Japanese at the Hoa Lac Campus of Vietnam Japan University, VNU. This is one of the activities to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam.

Attending the MOU Signing Ceremony and Seminar between VJU and NICT, with the presence of leaders and experts from NICT, the leader of Vietnam National University, Hanoi, the leader of VJU, the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Vietnamese Language and Speech Processing (VLSP), along with more than 50 lecturers and students of VJU and universities, organizations, and companies in Japan and Vietnam.

In his opening remarks at the MOU signing ceremony, Prof. Furuta Motoo, Rector of Vietnam Japan University, said that Vietnam Japan University is a symbol of the good relationship between the two Governments of Vietnam and Japan. VJU aims to become Asia's leading research-oriented university, associated with social responsibility and sustainable development. In addition to improving and ensuring training quality, VJU also pays great attention to building and developing cooperative relationships with partners, which include universities, research institutes, and domestic and foreign enterprises. Focusing not only on Japanese businesses but also international organizations, aiming to organize many practical activities, bringing many benefits to students and lecturers, and contributing to promoting the development of VJU in particular and social development.

NICT is a well-known Japanese research organization that operates as an advanced research and development center in information and communication technology. The objective of NICT is to conduct research and development in information and communication technology, whereas the mission of VJU is to provide high-quality research and education opportunities in science and technology. Professor Furuta Motoo believes that cooperating with such a large and highly specialized institute as NICT is extremely meaningful in fulfilling the mission of VJU, especially when both sides are aiming for the common goal of looking forward to contributing to technological progress and social development.

Speaking at the MOU signing ceremony, NICT President - Mr. Tokuda Hideyuki said, "We will promote the exchange of information and staff, researchers between NICT and VJU according to this MOU, while promoting joint research cooperation, joint organization of technical meetings and workshops." At the end of his speech, the NICT President demonstrated the automatic machine translation feature at the Signing Ceremony.

Mr. Takio Yamada, the Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Vietnam, said that the year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam. With the exchange of human resources between Japan and Vietnam becoming more popular, automatic audio translation machines will be a product that brings about great change. Currently, at VJU, there are study programs taught in Japanese, and many students study the Japanese language. The partnership with VJU will contribute to the development of both Japan and Vietnam. We have affirmed the importance of Vietnam Japan University and look forward to more support to develop the University.

Attending and speaking at the event, VNU Vice President Pham Bao Son shared that he was jointly building on the foundation of good diplomatic relations between the two countries, Vietnam and Japan, and the expansion of cooperation with other countries. Japanese and international educational institutions, research, and enterprises will make vital contributions to the development of Vietnam Japan University in training, research, and implementation. VNU's units, including Vietnam Japan University, are promoting digital transformation and applying information technology to teaching and other activities. The cooperation with NICT, Japan's leading research institute, will create excellent learning and research opportunities for students of Vietnam Japan University in the field of information and communication technology, helping VJU fulfill its mission of training high-quality human resources and promoting technology transfer activities.

After the signing ceremony, there was a seminar on the automatic machine translation of Vietnamese and Japanese. At the seminar, Prof. Tokuda Hideyuki, President of NICT, gave a brief introduction to introduce an outline of NICT, including its mission, function, and R&D activities. Followed by a presentation by Dr. Sumita Eiichiro, a Distinguished Researcher at the Universal Communication Research Institute of NICT, on the topic of multilingual communication at NICT. The presentation is to explain the R&D results of the automation of simultaneous interpretation, which is being carried out as a national project, and also introduce a translation bank, which is a mechanism for collecting multilingual data, and the activities of the translation laboratory in NICT.

At the seminar, Dr. Nguyen Van Vinh from the Vietnamese Language and Speech Processing (VLSP) presented a Multilingual Machine Translation for Vietnamese and other languages. Finally, Dr. Bui Huy Kien, Lecturer in the Faculty of Advanced Technology and Engineering at VJU, gave a presentation on “Exploring the Potential of Deep Neural Networks: Applications and Research Proposals.” This presentation showcases the practical applications of neural networks based on published research. We delve into the utilization of neural networks in the studies of event sound detection and crack detection in plastic gears. Additionally, we put potential research proposals for VJU lecturers and students, including the tracking of fish behavior, the development of a weed-killer robot using computer vision, and the prediction of material properties using neural networks.