Time for the government to start spending on research

 Yet, executives of the company were patiently waiting for her. They understood that only the government's full commitment to innovation can ensure that Thailand will able to make the leap forward in a world that seeks added value on everything.
At the event, which drew 800 participants both local and foreign, Yingluck highlighted Thailand’s goal of becoming a centre for food, automobile production, green energy and tourism.

 

She told the audience of the government’s plan to realign the research sector around seven government units under a number of ministries including Education, Agriculture, and Science and Technology. She hoped that this would reduce redundancy and facilitate future budget allocation. She envisaged a research contest, to encourage researchers to pump out more ideas that could be commercialised and create value to the economy.

 

She also promised to allocate more funds to universities, particularly provincial ones, so they could come up with research that could enhance the value of locally sourced materials. She said she was ready to help them with human resources and equipment, ready to “do something to promote companies and small businesses”.

 

Thailand is notorious for its low number of researchers and engineers as well as the ratio of public-private spending on R&D. While the number of researchers and engineers as a proportion of the population is well below 10:10,000, spending on R&D has been only 0.2 per cent of GDP since 1960. 

 

Professor Yongyuth Yuthavong, a senior researcher at the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotec), blames the meagre research budget for Thailand’s weak scientific and technological development. He said the R&D budget-to-GDP ratio of Thailand ranked among the lowest in the world. Developed countries each have dedicated a budget amounting to a few per cent of their GDP to R&D. As a result, most developed countries has about 5,000 researchers per one million people. The ratio in Thailand, meanwhile, is 600 per one million. 

 

“The prime minister has often reiterated that the government will devote an amount of money equivalent to 1 per cent of the country’s GDP to R&D. But I haven’t seen any tangible result,” he said. 

He said he had not seen any sign of change coming, even though the country’s 11th Social and Economic Development Plan aimed to raise the number of researchers significantly by achieving the ratio of 1,500 researchers to one million people by 2015.

 

“The plan has also suggested that the R&D budget should reach 1 per cent of the country’s GDP,” he said. 

 

However, the 2014 Fiscal Budget Plan revealed that the government planned to allocate just Bt21.32 billion to R&D. This amount, if approved, will mean the country’s R&D budget would hover around 0.8 per cent of the country’s GDP next year. 

 

Khunying Kalaya Soponpanich, a Democrat Party member, raised the issue about the meagre R&D budget during a recent parliamentary session. She said the government must not ignore the needs of R&D and should stop thinking that researchers do not seem to deliver anything.

 

“Researchers take quite some time to serve up clear results,” she said. 

 

On the R&D, Yongyuth lamented that Thailand still had a long way to go when compared with other countries.

 

“This means we seriously need clear policies, firm commitment and the right mindset now,” he said. 

 

 Yongyuth, who is also a former science minister, wondered why the government did not mention how the R&D would apply or could contribute to the implementation of its Bt350-billion water-management modules and the Bt2-trillion transport-system projects.

 

Will the government listen to his opinions? 

 

Well, Yingluck should know that it’s better late than never.