The country's research and development (R&D) intensity has increased substantially but measures to help small and medium business operators to catch up in R&D benefits are still needed, an expert says.
Rutjawate Taharnklaew, vice-president at the R&D Centre of Betagro Group, a major agro and food processing manufacturer, believes that the country's R&D development has been substantially improving over the past three years, as evidenced by the sharp increase in R&D budgets.
According to the National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office, the country's R&D expenditure increased from 0.47% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 to 0.48% in 2014, the year that then army chief Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha staged the coup.
R&D expenditures then rose substantially to 0.62% of GDP in 2015 and 0.75% in 2016.
Meanwhile, the split of R&D expenditure between the private sector and state agencies has also substantially changed from 54%/46% in 2014 to 70%/30% in 2015.
Mr Rutjawate said the improvement mainly derived from government policy which has placed more weight on R&D and technology to boost the country's competitiveness.
Unlike past years, the Science and Technology Ministry is no longer a second-grade ministry under this government, he said.
Still, Mr Rutjawate, a doctor of veterinary medicine who has overseen Betagro's R&D affairs for 12 years, raised concerns over the imbalance in the improvement, saying R&D expenditure in the private sector is still dominated by some large companies while most SMEs still cannot afford efficient R&D.
"Most private operators think spending on R&D is expenditure, so they hesitate to spend. They should change that mindset to consider that cost in R&D is investment that will have a return eventually," he said.
To support those small and medium-sized enterprises, the country needs R&D prototype production facilities which can mediate between lab-scale R&D and actual production.
Recalling Betagro's experience, Mr Rutjawate said that when the company launched a plan to produce low-fat sausages containing less than 5% fat, as required by FDA regulations, the company, in co-operation with the National Metal and Materials Technology Centre, conducted R&D into developing a bio-modified starch to use in place of fat so the sausages' texture would remain soft and would taste mostly same as the regular product.
The R&D was successful with five kilogrammes of sausages after one year of work in the laboratory, but it could not be immediately applied due to concerns about scaling the process up to meet the required production of tonnes of sausages necessary for factory output.
As a result, the company had to conduct product development at its prototype production facility with a production size of 100-200 kilogrammes for another year before the low-fat sausage could be produced at regular commercial scale.
"Betagro, can do this since we can afford the prototype production, but most SMEs can't.
"So, central prototype facilities are needed to support SMEs to conduct R&D to boost their competitiveness," he said.
In addition, central R&D laboratories should be further developed to allow SMEs to access R&D.
Mr Rutjawate applauded the government's new tax incentives which allow companies in five sectors that collaborate on R&D to be eligible for greater tax deductions of up to 300%.
The sectors are agriculture, biotechnology, health care, robotics, and the creative economy.
Still, he said the bureaucracy needed to qualify for such incentives is quite complicated and can take several months to complete. He also suggested researchers these days need to look beyond the remit of their work, and must keep in mind the commercial applications that could result from their findings.
According to Mr Rutjawate, R&D is among the core strategies of Betagro, and assisted the company in transforming from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to an own brand manufacturing business.
Established in 2005, the company's R&D centre currently co-operates with almost all state universities in various areas, including food safety, food sensory evaluation, biotechnology, molecular biology, animal breeding as well as product development.