Research goes private
To bring research into commercial reality, the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) will spin off its two research and development centres into private companies early this year.
The two include Thai Computer Emergency Response Team, known as ThaiCERT, a division of National Electronic and Computer Technology Centre responsible for computer security, and the Government Information Technology Services' TrueHits, which provides directory and advanced Web statistical services for the Internet community free of charge. ThaiCERT will be established under the T-Net company and TrueHits will become a new Internet Information Research Centre (IIRC) company. The two companies will be owned by NSTDA with a 49-per-cent stake, while the remainder will be shared by staff of each company. Both will have an initial registered capital of Bt1 million. NSTDA's vice president for S&T investment, Thaweesak Koanatakool, said the two new companies were expected to be up and running within this month. He said the move was a part of NSTDA's S&T investment strategy to spin off potential S&T-related research and development into commercial operation. T-net's business is to provide security services commercially while IIRC will take care of providing Internet statistics services. "The spin-off will help the country have its own core and strength in technology-related business, which will drive growth and competitiveness," said Thaweesak. The move aims to follow the success of spinning off the largest local Internet service provider Internet Thailand, which became a public company several years ago. As security services and Internet-related statistical services are expected to become crucial ICT-related businesses in the near future, the agency sees the potential in making them commercial. Apart from these two companies, Thaweesak said, the agency has set aside Bt40 million to invest in newly spun-off companies this year. The investment will focus on four main areas of research and development including information and communication technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology and materials technology. The main criteria to spin off are the content of research and development as well as the business potential and the researchers' commercial mindset. It is one way to turn research and development into commercial business. NSTDA has already spent Bt90 million to help spin-off companies during the past 10 years. Asina Pornwasin The Nation
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