As Asean countries strive to improve their competitiveness in an integrated market, Thailand is stepping up research and development (R&D) so that it can catch up with peers such as Singapore and Malaysia.
The state agencies and businesses with research units at the Thailand Science Park account for 10-12% of all R&D expenditure in the country.
To encourage the private sector to spend on R&D, the Thai government in 1989 approved the establishment of the first Thailand Science Park, which began operating in 2002 in Pathum Thani province. The National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) envisions the facility as a research community for both state agencies and private companies where researchers can share their expertise and knowledge, and innovate new technology together.
Currently, around 10-12% of all R&D expenditure in Thailand is undertaken through Thailand Science Park. And while other Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, China and Japan are far more advanced on the R&D front, there is hope that Thailand can start to catch up.
This artificial knee joint is among hundreds of innovations developed in many fields at the Thailand Science Park.
“We have a strong belief that R&D activity in Thailand from now on will jump at a faster rate than in past years now that we have finished the second phase of Thailand Science Park this year,” said Dr Janekrishna Kanatharana, vice-president of the NSTDA and director of Thailand Science Park.
Nearly 70 companies, as well as four research institutions, three universities and one medical school have operations at the park. The complex is also home to the headquarters of the NSTDA and its 2,700 employees including 1,600 full-time researchers, around 400 of them PhD scientists.
Researchers at the park are active in a number of fields including biotechnology, information technology, metals and materials technology and nanotechnology. Their work has found applications for businesses in the areas of agriculture and food, health and medicine, energy and the environment and other fields.
Both local and international companies have used the facilities in the first phase of the Thailand Science Park for their R&D. They include Thailand’s largest industrial conglomerate Siam Cement Group (SCG) which set up the R&D centre for its building material products at the site, the agribusiness company Betagro Group, PTT Phenol, the sugar producer Mitr Phol Group, and foreign companies such as Taisei-Kogyo and Sumitomo Rubber (Thailand).
Dr Janekrishna acknowledges that Thailand has been a relative latecomer to R&D. While the Science Park idea originated in 1989, progress was stalled by a coup, bureaucracy and frequent changes in government, and then by the 1997 financial crisis. It was not until 2002 that operations finally began.
More than a decade later, Thailand’s overall commitment to R&D remains very low. R&D expenditure was just 0.4% of gross domestic product in 2012, compared with the global average of 2%. The government aims to lift Thailand’s figure to 1% by 2016.
And while the private sector tends to lead R&D spending in most countries, in Thailand 60% of such spending is done by the government and state agencies.
In Singapore, R&D spending increased from S$760 million and 1% of GDP in 1991 to S$6 billion and 2.3% of GDP in 2009, according to the National Research Foundation. The Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore expects R&D expenditure to reach 3.5% of GDP by 2015. The government alone has allocated a total of US$16.1 billion for research, innovation and enterprise between 2011 and 2015.
In China, the World Bank estimated R&D expenditure at 1.98% of GDP in 2012, edging the European Union where the figure was 1.96%. Science and technology development expenditure rose from 169 billion yuan in 2006 to 560 billion in 2012, according to the Ministry of Finance.
In Taiwan, which has built a number of strong global technology brands after spending decades as an assembler for others, R&D expenditure in 2012 was US$14.4 billion or 3.06% of GDP. Sixty-seven percent of the total was spent on technology development, according to the latest available data from the government.
Closer to home, Malaysia has been improving its R&D spending from a low base. Total expenditure in 2011 was 1.07% of GDP or 9.42 billion ringgit, more than five times higher than the 1.67 billion ringgit recorded in 2000, according to the Malaysian Science and Technology Information Centre.
Dr Janekrishna said having R&D science parks could help countries accelerate economic development and make them more attractive for investment. China is a prime example as the country has gradually transformed itself from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to one that can develop its own technologies and brands. The country today has 80 science parks nationwide.
“The AEC agreement is an important factor that is driving Asean countries to focus more on R&D,” said Dr Janekrishna. “Indonesia is in the process of setting up its first science park, whereas Vietnam has two: one each in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
“In Asean, Singapore is the most advanced in R&D, followed by Malaysia and Thailand. Although we (Thailand Science Park) are quite young when compared with these two countries, we have advanced facilities and qualified researchers to help private companies conduct their research.”
In the second phase of the park, Innovation Cluster 2 (INC2) is ready to serve up to 100 companies, the first of which began operations there in February of this year. The first phase can accommodate 150 to 200 companies.
Polyplastics Co, a Tokyo-based engineering plastics specialist, was the first company to set up shop in INC2. It has invested 50 million baht in a technical solutions centre (TSC), its fifth in the world, aimed at capitalising on the growing domestic automotive industry.
The Polyplastics TSC employs seven Thai researchers and one Japanese to provide services including product and moulding design, injection mould technology, analysis and evaluation, and technical seminars.
The Pathum Thani site is still the only science park in the country but others are being planned in Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Hat Yai and Chon Buri.
“We hope that science parks will mushroom in Thailand like industrial estates,” he said. “The global market nowadays is forcing private companies to do R&D if they want to survive.”