NXPO President Dr. Kitipong Promwong announced that the cabinet has approved a 24.4 billion THB fund for FY2022 science, research and innovation (SRI) budget as proposed by the National Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Policy Council (Policy Council) of which NXPO President serving as an assistant secretary. The cabinet recognized multiple challenges that Thailand is facing and expected that SRI will offer innovative solutions to those challenges by improving quality of life of Thai people, alleviating poverty, reducing social disparity, enhancing competitiveness of local industry and mitigating pollutions.
President Kitipong further revealed a number of SRI achievements made in FY2020, especially the responses to the COVID-19 crisis such as AI robot supporting manufacturing and quality control processes of facial mask production, the RT-PCR COVID-19 saliva-based test enabling rapid diagnosis and a wide range of medical devices and supplies, e.g. personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilator and negative pressure isolation chamber. The year 2020 also marked a significant milestone for drug and vaccine testing infrastructure as the National Primate Research Centre of Thailand earned an AAALAC accreditation confirming that the center has met the world-class standard.
Other achievements include the reskill, upskill and new skill program aiming to develop workforce for target industries, the development of breast cancer drug to replace imported drug, the target poverty alleviation program, a prototype of assistive robot for the elderly and post-stroke rehabilitation, the implementation of Bio-Circular-Green economy (BCG) which includes the launch of Genomic Thailand, National BioBank of Thailand, and the application of space technology to solve PM2.5.
The FY2022 SRI implementation plan will emphasize research that has actual applications and commercial potential as well as work that can improve capability and sustainability of manufacturing and service sectors and build technological capacity for the new normal. The FY2022 SRI budget is composed of two parts: a strategic fund of 14.64 billion THB and a fundamental fund of 9.76 billion THB. The strategic fund will be directed to research funding agencies to administer research fund on a competitive basis to achieve the targets set in 4 platforms and 17 programs as outlined in the Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Policy and Strategy. The fundamental fund will be used to support basic research and functional-based research in SRI institutes.
