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Published on September 25, 2007

As well as showcasing business models aimed at improving productivity and intellectual property innovation, the roadshows will also gather suggestions from small- and medium-sized enterprise operators on how the models can be improved, said director-general Atchaka Sibunruang.

The roadshows will be staged in five provinces: Chon Buri, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Ayutthaya and Trang.

Atchaka said the two model schemes had a budget of around Bt460 million. A total of 37 projects will follow the productivity plan and four projects covering 13 industries, including textiles, automotive, food and electronics, will follow the intellectual property model.

The projects will start next year and will take five years to complete.

The productivity plan aims to boost industrial labour productivity by 5 per cent per year. The Office of Industrial Economics expects that in the five-year course of the projects, the number of participants will double from

4,500 operators to 9,000

operators in 25 industries.

The aim of the intellectual property plan is to give 35 per cent of Thailand's industrial operators the ability to create their own innovations to meet consumer demands in domestic and international markets.

National Food Institute of Thailand executive director Yuthasak Supasorn said the institute would receive Bt45.5 million for four projects to improve local operators in the food industry.

The projects will seek to improve supply chain management, apply best practices to "green" productivity, increase the number of professional food analysts and create continuous production processes in small- and medium-sized plants.

He said the Chinese government had announced it would spend US$1 billion (Bt34.2 billion) to boost its food industries to meet international standards within three

years.

Therefore, local operators have to accelerate the upgrading of their productivity and product quality, or they will soon lose their competitiveness in global markets to China, he said.

Chalida  Ekvitthayavechnukul

 The Nation

Chiang Mai