The president of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) is committed to urging all stakeholders to pay attention to locally developed technologies, which he stressed could potentially enhance people's quality of life and drive economic growth.
Narong Sirilertworakul is pursuing the theme of "beyond limits" by continuously strengthening and building local expertise in science and technology, developing advanced innovation, improving national science and technology infrastructure and supporting technology transfers.
These efforts can help build sustainable economic growth and bring people out of the middle-income trap, he said.
"Science and technology still lack proper management processes to propel them towards commercial usage. Many efforts have just been shelved," said Mr Narong.
"It is important to overcome obstacles and constraints to ensure the entire technology ecosystem can function from upstream to downstream, with innovations tested for quality assurance."
COLLABORATION NEEDED
"We need to communicate with policymakers and citizens so they understand and acknowledge how important science, technology and innovation are, to attract investment from the government and interest from people," he said.
Mr Narong said science and advanced technology can add value to the country's resources and play a key role in driving S-curve industries.
Over the past six years in the position, he pointed to his role in convincing policymakers to support investment in science and technology to develop a sustainable economy, help reduce poverty and make farmers become interested in science.
"Science can make agriculture more efficient and reduce repetitive tasks, such as using pineapple and lemon peeler machines," said Mr Narong. "Farmers are becoming more interested in science."
He said once the pandemic is contained, the medical and wellness sectors, including medical devices and supplies, diagnosis sets, vaccines as well as self-health check digital platforms offer a new opportunity to strengthen Thailand as a medical hub, support the country's self-reliance and enhance health equality.
Thailand has a biobank, herbal knowledge, 5G, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and other frontier tech that can be integrated to make future medical products and services, said Mr Narong.
It is vital to manage scientific institutions through critical thinking, understanding effective communication and imagination, he said.
BCG MODEL
The government is pushing a national strategy that follows the BCG (bio-, circular and green) economic model from 2021 to 2027, by leveraging science, technology and innovation to boost the country's competitiveness via four targeted industries.
BCG industries are expected to reach 4.4 trillion baht in value, or 24% of the country's GDP, and employ 20 million people by 2027, according to government estimates.
The first targeted industry is food and agriculture. A major challenge in this sector is the chasm between the labour force and contribution to GDP. While 32% of the total labour force is in this sector, the GDP contribution is only 6.1%.
There has also been excessive use of chemicals, which are mostly imported. R&D is needed to lower product cost, improve productivity and develop high-value and high-quality agriculture-based products, said Mr Narong.
Research in agriculture and the food sector is supported by advanced infrastructure such as the National Omics Center and the National Biobank of Thailand.
The second industry is medical and wellness, he said. Up to 37% of drugs on the National List of Essential Medicines are imported. Thais spend 160 billion baht annually on medicines, 70% of which are imported drugs.
Yet Thailand has more than 800 different herbal plant species that could be leveraged for medicine. To limit overseas dependence, the Clinical Research Organisation is set to be established to invest in research and production of biopharmaceuticals and develop a testing facility for medical products, said Mr Narong.
To capitalise on Thailand's diverse array of herbal plants, investment will be directed towards R&D in high-throughput screening for drug discovery, he said.
A research programme on biopharmaceuticals and vaccine production is supported by the National Biopharmaceutical Facility located at the industrial park of King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi.
Medical devices is another promising area to be promoted, Mr Narong said. A number of useful innovations such as digital radiography, a cone-beam computed tomography dental scanner, and synthetic bone graft material have already been used in the field to safeguard Thai public health.
The third promoted sector in the BCG model concerns bioenergy, biomaterials and biochemicals, he said.
Although Thailand is a top producer and exporter of sugar cane, cassava and oil palm, more than 40 million tonnes of biomass are underutilised, while 67% of the country's energy is imported. This gap presents ample opportunity for biorefinery technology that enables the conversion of biomass to energy, chemicals and biomaterials, significantly raising the value of these crops and their by-products, said Mr Narong.
Biorefinery research emphasises the development of platform technology for conversion of underutilised agricultural biomass and sugars to valorised fuels and chemicals by bio- and chemo-catalytic processes, as well as the translation of technology to industrial application.
A 3.4-billion-baht investment has been earmarked for the construction of the Biorefinery Pilot Plant at the Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation, scheduled to be completed this year.
A partnership has been formed between the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant to co-manage this facility as Bio Base Asia Pilot Plant, leading Thailand towards becoming a regional bioindustry hub, he said.
The fourth promoted sector involves tourism and creative economy, Mr Narong said.
Technology and innovation can play a pivotal role in strengthening the Thai tourism industry, he said.
Biodiversity research can contribute to the development of nature tourism, while science and technology can be employed to define national guidelines for tourism, such as carrying capacity, supporting sustainable tourism standards and conserving as well as rehabilitating the environment.
LOCAL TECH DEVELOPMENT
According to Mr Narong, Thailand needs to build its own ecosystem to support local tech development through collaboration with various parties. For example, tuna fish is found to have DHA, prebiotics and calcium, which can be added to milk powder to become locally made products, he said.
"We have to collaborate with parties across sectors to make new products," said Mr Narong.
He received the 2021 Chinese Government Friendship Award in recognition of his significant contributions to China-Thailand cooperation, particularly in the field of science-tech cooperation and person-to-person exchanges.
"At NSTDA, we can use 'science diplomacy' with other countries to connect on science, trade and investment with each other," said Mr Narong.
"We can exchange and leverage technology as well as boost market opportunities together."
