On 29 January 2024, Prime Minister Mr. Srettha Thavisin chaired the meeting of the National Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Policy Council (Policy Council), with Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, and Ms. Supamas Isarabhakdi, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, serving as Vice Chairpersons. Also in attendance as members of the Policy Council were ministers, top government officials and appointed experts.
Minister Supamas revealed the Prime Minister’s higher education policies which include: 1) modernizing university courses to align with labor market demands, 2) fostering life-long learning for all target groups, 3) promoting domestic and international academia-industry collaboration, 4) enhancing human resource management, focusing on putting the right man in the right job, and 5) upgrading university infrastructure and facilities to expose students to cutting-edge technologies.
For science, research and innovation, the Prime Minister emphasized the following issues: 1) promoting science, research and innovation underpinning the government’s target industry, 2) balancing budget allocation between applied science and frontier research to both support the government’s policy and encourage new discoveries, 3) bolstering startups through matching funds and university incubation programs, and 4) developing workforces and researchers, along with innovation.
Minister Supamas further unveiled the targets for higher education, science, research and innovation in serving the government’s missions. These include positioning Thailand in the top 25 in the World Competitiveness Rankings by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and top 30 in the Global Innovation Index, having two Thai universities in the top 200 in the World University Rankings by Times Higher Education (THE) and at least one regional university ranked between 601-800, as well as having eight Thai universities entering the SDG Impact Ranking. Manpower development goals include achieving 55% STEM graduates and 40% highly-skilled workforces.
The government aims to increase R&D investment to at least 2% GDP, expecting to result in a 5-fold return on investment (ROI) and other economic impacts, the number of patents granted per 100,000 population to 50, and the value of innovation-based industry to THB 580 billion. As for the impact of R&D, the government expects to create seven unicorn startups, generate THB 70 billion revenue for innovation-driven enterprises and SMEs, and triple farmers’ income through smart farming.
The meeting approved these targets and work plan. NXPO has been assigned to drive the implementation in collaboration with relevant agencies and present progress reports to the Policy Council accordingly.
In addition, the Policy Council approved the procurement criteria for research and development and academic services that fall outside the scope of the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act B.E. 2560 (2017). This new initiative helps remove the restrictions of public procurement, thus expediting the procurement process to support research and development and academic services activities in universities.
“These approved criteria allow procurement to be tailored to meet the needs of research, development, and academic services. This includes increasing the maximum limit for the procurement by a specific method, allowing universities to procure items with certain specifications and hire highly-skilled experts, permitting advanced payments, and facilitating the transfer of materials to private entities, including foundations, temples and charitable organizations, in accordance with cooperation agreements. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation has made a formal request to the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Committee to allow research institutes to implement these criteria as well,” Minister Supamas concluded.
Photo credit: The Government House
