To ramp up manpower development for the industrial sector, NXPO in collaboration with the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), established an online platform STEMPlus (https://stemplus.or.th) providing information and services on STEM workforce in support of the Thailand Plus Package – a measure launched by the Board of Investment (BOI) to accelerate investment in high-technology industries. Among other components contained in the package was incentives offering to enterprises engaging in human resource development and building up the high skilled workforce, which include 250% tax deduction for expenses spent on certified training courses and 150% tax deduction for expenses spent on hiring employees with advanced STEM knowledge.
The STEMPlus platform offers certification services for STEM employment and STEM courses for the Thailand Plus Package. NXPO President Dr. Kitipong Promwong revealed that the platform has certified 894 STEM employments in 46 companies and 472 STEM courses offered by 46 training centers. Those STEM hirings added THB 360 million to the economy, whereas the training courses were attended by a total of 15,388 workers from 608 companies, accounting for THB 173 million training expenses. By engaging in workforce upskilling, enterprises gained not only THB 51.9 million from tax write-offs, but also employees with improved knowledge and skill level.
