NIA aims to bridge govt-start-ups divide to create national innovations
The lack of coordination between the government and private sector and the complexity and strictness of the government’s working system, especially the procurement system, are barriers that impede the private sector, particularly start-ups, from creating national innovations, National Innovation Association (NIA) deputy director of corporate strategy Theresa Matavapan said.
“To solve this problem, the NIA aims to be a bridge between the government and start-ups under a project called Government Procurement Transformation,” she said.
“We will provide those start-ups with a budget to help increase their opportunities to usher in new technology for a test run in government agencies.”
The NIA already runs a project called Start-up Thailand, which promotes and supports the creation of innovations by developing the proper ecosystem.
“We aim for 3,000 foreign companies to get involved in supporting innovation, investing in Thailand and promoting the country as an innovation hub in the region,” she explained.
Talking about the Recognition of Excellence Award that the NIA received recently at the Thailand OpenGov Leadership Forum 2019, she said the association was the main organisation promoting national technology development in order to lift Thailand from the 43rd position on the Global Innovation Index (GII) to the 30th position by 2030.
“To improve the GII ranking, we studied the factors relating to it, planning for the possibility of boosting Thailand’s rating,” she added.
The Thailand Recognition of Excellence Award, which is part of the Recognition of Excellence series held in many countries including Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, awards government agencies for innovation and technology. More than 250 government agencies in Thailand were candidates for the award.
