What Thailand’s election of a radical new government means for science

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The new government faces a difficult task to stimulate research and development, hampered by an unskilled workforce.

The Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat waves to a crowd of supporters following his party’s victory in Thailand’s election.Thai voters backed radical reform at last Sunday’s general election, handing victory to the Move Forward Party, a youth-oriented party advocating for wholesale changes to the nation’s bureaucracy, economy, military and monarchy.

But according to Saowaruj Rattanakhamfu, vice-president and research director at the Thailand Development Research Institute, a think tank based in Bangkok, implementation of the BCG has been hobbled by inadequate workforce education and training and a lack of clarity about what projects are included in the plan, their targets and outcomes.

She says that attempts to innovate are stymied by inadequate training and education, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, from primary school through to university. “The key issue for Thailand’s future economy is human-resource development,” she says. Cogan says Thailand could draw lessons from Vietnam, which is investing in training and education, with a view to becoming a leader in electric-vehicle manufacturing. Many companies want to expand manufacturing in Thailand, he says, “but the workforce is simply not ready”. “The pace of science education in Thailand has not kept up with technological innovation,” he adds.

The BCG and Thailand 4.0 got scant attention during the election campaign. Instead, most parties concentrated on issues associated with the standard of living.As Move Forward reached a coalition agreement with Pheu Thai and other parties earlier this week, the World Bank was busy on Tuesday launching a partnership with the Thai government to conduct a review into the quality of public investment in science technology and innovation.

 

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