Govt agencies to focus on development of SMEs to complement S-curve industries
In the next fiscal year, the Industrial Promotion Centre Region 9 (IPC9) under the Department of Industrial Promotion (DIP) will focus on improving SMEs to support S-curve industries in the future.
The move will also complement the infrastructure the government has invested in and the expansion of tourism in line with the development of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), IPC9’s director Wutichai Prachapon said.
“In order to get SMEs to complement large industries that use high technology, entrepreneurs will need to improve their production standards and information technology systems for satisfying the demand of large industries that will come to invest in the future,” he said.
“Moreover, in the next year, IPC9 will hasten the operation on two key points, namely entrepreneurs’ potential preparation in order to support Thailand 4.0 and improving the standard of entrepreneurs and agricultural products.”
For the first point, DIP has earmarked Bt4.5 billion for IPC9 in line with the regional development plan, which the organisation plans to spend on preparing first S-curve industries, especially the manufacturers of auto parts. Besides, its target is to improve 20 businesses, 50 staff members and one business cluster.
“Our targeted business cluster is within the logistics industry,” he added. “This logistics cluster will help reduce the cost of SMEs in its business area, and also support the infrastructure that the government has invested in for assisting the growth of SMEs’ potential.”
IPC9 also plans to improve skilled labour in the EEC area to meet the demands of S-curve industries, that can develop as new industries such as robotics, aviation and logistics, biofuels and biochemical, digital and medical hub.
“To improve the standard of entrepreneurs and agricultural products, the organisation has been given Bt13 million to spend on agro- and food-processing industries,” he said. “Our target is to improve 20 businesses, 160 staff and one business cluster in this sector and we are still discussing whether the cluster should be in organic, herbs or fruit industry, that can take advantage of the Eastern Fruit Corridor project in the future.”
In the agro-processing industry, he said the most important point is to improve the necessary standards for modern trade and exports. He also added that customers’ demands need to be fulfilled, while online markets need to be developed to find new global markets.