earticle

영어

Thailand is located in the center of Southeast Asian region sharing borders with Laos, Myanmar,
Cambodia and Malaysia. Total area is around 500,000 sqm with the population of 65.4 million, 43,
40 and 17 % of which is in agriculture, services and industries respectively. The country is the 14th largest world exporter of agricultural and food products. Rice, rubber tree and cassava are the top three crops grown in Thailand.
In 2003, the National Biotechnology Policy Framework was prepared and adopted by the National
Policy Committee to implement for the term of 6 years (2004-2009). Under the framework,
biotechnology plays as a vital tool to increase product value, to broaden global market, and to
raise quality of life. When the technology is utilized in line with government policy and the national
agenda, the opportunities to encompass sustainable competitiveness, to establish healthcare for
all, and to create equitable income distribution under the sufficient economy are promising. The
policy framework suggests the six goals for biotechnology development in Thailand. The emphasis of these goals is to use modern technologies to accelerate development in the niche areas. Core technologies include genomics, bioinformatics, and nanotechnologies help promote biotechnology business to increase value of products and multiply the type of services.
One of the six goals is “Emergence of 100 New Bio-Business in the Country”. The main strategy to achieve the goal is enhancing cooperation among tripartite: private sector, public sector, and
academic/knowledge institutions. Government sectors provide friendly environment such as
infrastructure and incentives to promote knowledge-based industry. For instance, Thailand
Science Park, expands its specialization to incubate biotechnology business. BioPark will be ready for biotech startups in 2009. At present, Thailand has more than 40 new biotech startups. In
addition, there are more than 60 existing bio-based companies invested in R&D using
biotechnology. There are also various kinds of promotion and incentive to support the investment.
Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) is a strong arm to enhance the Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) fostering the aim for Thailand to become R&D hub and Asia bio-service center.
Networking of key stakeholders in biotechnology community in Thailand is explained. Research
institution, granting agency, regulatory agency, industry association and scientific association play a very important role in the development of biotechnology in the country.