During his one-year term as minister, he plans to develop a science and technology foundation focusing on three key areas - training personnel at all levels, the development of an intensive system to support local research and development, and the deployment of new and existing technologies to solve the country's problems.

He said he would work with other ministries and government agencies, including the Education Ministry, to develop life-long learning processes to allow people at all levels to learn science and technology, and importantly, utilise technology to support their daily life and work.

As ensuring that science and technology reaches people in every community is one of the minister's major goals, he said he would collaborate with study centres under His Majesty the King's patronage, which have nationwide networks, to adapt knowledge and projects normally done in the centres so they get to people in each community.

Under the plan, the ministry will build a consultant team to move into each community, work with them to find suitable technology, and apply it to address the community's problems, Yongyuth said.

He plans to adopt the National Science and Technology Development Agency's Industrial Technology Assistance Programme (ITAP) model to develop the new teams.

ITAP is a programme to provide consultancy services and technology transfer to local small and medium-sized enterprises. So far, more than 1,000 SMEs have utilised science and technology to improve their businesses with assistance from the ITAP team.

"We want to set up a team like ITAP, and we can call it something like 'ITAP for communities'," he said.

Meanwhile, to encourage local research and development, the minister plans to devise a system to persuade researchers and the private sector to develop new technology and innovation.

"We will provide tax incentives, soft loans and grants to encourage local science and technology development," he said.

The new minister also nominated three key technologies that are essential for the country's development - information and communications technology (ICT), biotechnology, and technologies used in industries.

"ICT is a key technology for development and the advent of new technology like broadband Internet is something that we have to keep an eye on," he said.

The minister said development in biotechnology would involve two areas - health and agriculture. Biotechnology for health will focus on technology for the prevention and cure of diseases, as well as the study of emerging medical treatments such as cell implants. In agriculture, development will cover, for example, the improvement of plant breeding, which will help farmers increase productivity and yields.

For the development of technologies used in industry - including mechanical, materials and nanotechnology - Yongyuth said these were a foundation to help each industry make further developments in both their production processes and products.

To cope with the new trend, the minister has a plan to work with the Thai Academy of Science and Technology Foundation to study developments to foresee technologies that will have an impact. This will help the ministry make better plans for the future.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation