Sakarindr Bhumiratana, NSTDA president, said that for infrastructure, the agency would set up a second incubation centre to support young entrepreneurs. The centre will act as a facilitator to provide infrastructure, business plans and consultancy services, technology transfer and a testing centre for young entrepreneurs so they are able to create products and services with quality to compete with others in the market.

NSTDA has set already up its first incubator which has so far supported 50 young entrepreneurs. It's expected that the second incubator will support around 200 young entrepreneurs.

"It's necessary to have this kind of infrastructure which will encourage new entrepreneurs to utilise science and technology to develop their products and services," said Sakarindr.

He said the agency this year also planned to work more with researchers, the private sector, universities, and partner institutions to develop and bring science and technology to serve commercial demands.

For example, the agency will work with the private sector and universities to develop plant and animal breeding for the development of higher value-added products.

He said it would meanwhile cooperate with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to develop and improve production processes and the quality of products while increasing labour skills to meet international quality standards in order to add value to products, especially in the hard disk drive, auto electronic parts and rubber industries. The agency plans to collaborate with hard disk drive manufactures, SMEs and R&D institutions to bring new technology to improve their production with a hope to add value to their products.

Lastly, the agency plans to develop more 2,000 to 3,000 local researchers and scientists in the next couple years. It will work with both local and international universities to train personnel, especially in automotive engineering, to support the industry. 

Jirapan Boonnoon

The Nation