Science Ministry will hold 2 big innovation events of the year

21 September 2018 Startups

Science and Technology Ministry will hold “Government Procurement Transformation” and “Innovation Thailand Expo 2018” moving the country forwards with innovations.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, by National Innovation Agency Public Organisation (NIA) will organise “Government Procurement Transformation” and “Innovation Thailand Expo 2020” which is the country’s first innovation festival, moving the country forwards with innovations.

The “Government Procurement Transformation” will be staged under the theme “Unlock Limits, Develop Startups for the Gov market”.

Dr. Soranit Siltharm, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology remarks that innovation plays important role at present as more people are interested in the new way of business running, the ministry thus aims to support every party to have knowledge and understanding about innovations and uplift Thai startups, supporting the new generations’ ideas for development of new businesses.

“The startup community in Thailand has been rapidly growing continuously. The move signifies that we can drive the country moving towards the innovation country in the future.”

Pun-arj Chairatana, Director of the National Innovation Agency (NIA) adds that Thailand was ranked 44th out of 126 countries in the 2018 Global Innovation Index (GII), the report conducted by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The country climbed 7 places in the ranking from the 51st in the 2017, the place was continuously improved during 2015-2018, and was ranked 5th among the 34 upper-middle-income countries with best innovation capabilities, following to China, Malaysia, Bulgaria, and Croatia.

“Thanks to the country’s efforts to increase national competitiveness and innovative capacity,” he says, adding that the policy of Thailand 4.0 is a vital mechanism driving the present economy of the country. However, said NIA director, many things to be developed, especially capabilities of companies at all levels, large, SMEs or startups. “If we all work in innovation development making remarkable performance together, Thailand will be able to simply move up a better rank.”

Government Procurement Transformation: “Unlock Limits, Develop Startups for the Gov market”

Government Procurement Transformation: “Unlock Limits, Develop Startups for the Gov Market” will be staged during September 28-29, 2018 at Hall 5-6, IMPACT Arena, Exhibition and Convention Centre, Muang Thong Thani. The festival will highlight the startup development and ecosystem, technology development for government sector, and innovative capacity of the country covering education, security, local administration, finance, public health, all that reflect the economy and knowledge outlook of the country.

Dr. Soranit points out that the concept of “Unlock Limits, Develop Startups for the Gov Market” has promoted the government procurement transformation. It strengthens startup business and improves the public services efficiency and data accessibility, uplifting innovation competitiveness and moving the country’s economy towards Thailand 4.0 policy.

“For a process of unlock limits of government procurement, we open startups and government agencies who want to use solutions made by startups and the agreement will be held at the event as well. This will stimulate the government procurement in the startup ecosystem which is expected to reach 1 billion baht at the event.”

Pun-arj notes that there will be solutions for the government developed by some 100 startups in 7 sectors including manpower development and public policy communications, tourism & cultural promotion and learning space development, public utilities services, business facilitations, digital government, security and defense, local market development and business matching of government sector and startups. There will be GovTech exhibitions and GOVTech Solutions Award which is the competition of startups to solve pain points of the government sectors covering 1) Digital government 2) Ease of doing business and 3) Public services.

Innovation Thailand Expo 2018, the country’s first innovation festival

Innovation Thailand Expo 2018 will be held during October 4-7, 2018 at Hall 99, Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre BITEC. NIA will organise the first innovation festival in the country through the collaboration of all parties of public and private sectors, education institutes in order to propose the innovation projects underlining the “Innovation Fast Move Nation” of Thailand. There will be some 250 innovation projects from 150 organisations showcase alongside variety of activities at the fun festival.

Dr. Soranit discloses that Innovation Thailand Expo 2018 takes another step ahead the “national innovation week” held three years ago as this is the first of its kind of innovation festival comprising three zones of Fair, FIN, and FUN.

Visitors will experience variety of national innovations. The “Thailand Innovations” exhibition zone will showcase 70 innovation projects for better life and 30 highlights innovation projects of the year. The “Innovation Award” will feature 100 excellent innovation projects. The “Careers in the 21st Century” exhibition will show the future careers together with training and consulting to the new generations. The “Innovation Driven Enterprise” presented by 20 large corporations who brought innovations for their organisations’ development. The “International Innovation” will feature international innovations from China, South Korea, Japan, Israel, and Malaysia.

The 2018 innovation awards ceremony will be held on October 5, the National Innovation Day. The 10 awards to be presented are National Economic and Social Innovation Award, Innovation Design Award, Excellent Innovation Organisation Award, Thai Rice Innovation Award, Young Innovation Award of Thailand, UAV Startup Award, Social Enterprise Innovation Award, and Media Innovation. At the four-day event, there will be national and international seminars, conducted by over 50 speakers.