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Published on September 11, 2007

The office has also allocated B100 million this year to support NSTDA through the agency's Industry Technology Assistance Programme (iTAP).

Initiated 15 years ago, the programme aims to apply science and technology to the industries' problems by reducing operating costs, improving productivity and eventually increasing competitive advantages.

OSMEP's director Jhitraporn Techacharn said the collaborative project was a part of the office's second master plan for 2007 to 2011, to add value and productivity to SMEs by using technology and innovation.

She said Thai SMEs still used innovation at a lower rate, only 11 per cent, compared to other Asian countries like Korea, where the rate of using innovations among SMEs was 40 per cent.

"It's necessary to find partnerships from the pubic and private sector as well as research institutions to bring innovations and technology to Thai SMEs," she added.

NSTDA's director Sakarindr Bhumiratana said the agency's iTAP mechanism would encourage local SMEs to adopt science and technology to increase competitiveness. The two parties plan this year to have around 240 SMEs in the project.

The project's initial focus would be on food and pharmaceuticals, wood and furniture, auto parts, medical and healthcare, software, textiles, and the energy and environment industries.

Somchai Chatratana, the deputy director of NSTDA's Technology Management Centre, which oversees the iTAP programme, said that since starting earlier this year, the project so far had recruited around 160 companies.

He said companies that participated in the programme would receive technology assistance and advice from experts who would find the best technology to fit their business requirements.

"The centre will help SMEs find experts and also subsidise 50 per cent of consultancy costs to hire experts for each participant," Somchai said, adding the subsidies were a way to stimulate local SMEs to focus more on technology development to improve their businesses.

Each year, the centre spends around Bt40 million to Bt50 million to support the private sector through the iTAP programme. Somchai said the funding support from OSMEP in this project would help the centre expand technology assistance to cover more local SMEs.

"For example, in the software industry, this year the centre is able to expand the project to provide technology assistance to local software developers seeking the Capability Maturity Model Integration standard from only Bt10 million to Bt27 million of our budget.

With more funds, the programme could provide technology assistance to 25 software companies this year," Somchai said.

Meanwhile, it can also revive a project to assist local wood and furniture industries to adopt technology to improve their capabilities, which was previously halted due to a lack of budget.

"We will encourage them to use new technology in their production process, hoping to change them from being just original equipment manufacturers to become original design manufacturers and eventually creating their own brands," he said.

In the 15 years of iTAP's operation, more than 1,000 companies have joined the programme.

Even though the centre used the government budget to support the private sector, Somchai said all money the government spent on the programme gave a more valuable economic return to the country.

A survey done by the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce five years ago on the economic return from the iTAP programme found that every Bt1 of government money used in the programme would return Bt6 to the country as a result of the improvement of local SMEs' capabilities, as they expanded their businesses after using technology and innovation.

By providing technology assistance to local SMEs through the programme, the centre hopes to upgrade local businesses from using only labour-intensive operations to skills-intensive and eventually technology-intensive.

"From technology-intensive operations our ultimate goal is for Thai SMEs to be able to conduct their own research and development and eventually develop innovation on their own," Somchai said.

Pongpen Sutharoj

 The Nation