THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM: FINDINGS FROM NATIONAL INNOVATION AGENCY (NIA) OF THAILAND

摘要

In 1987, Christopher Freeman introduced the term "National Innovation System" to describe the performance of the economically most successful country such as Japan. He described innovation as a process of combination of new and existing knowledge, which comes from various actors including government, university, industry, and national research institute. The purpose of this paper is to address the innovative capabilities development through the National Innovation Agency (NIA). This institute has been established since 2003 under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand. The main objectives in establishing NIA are to: induce innovations in the economic units, create a supportive atmosphere for innovation culture, and strengthen organizations in innovation direction respectively. Out of 1,500 submitted proposals approximately, 332 innovative projects were granted and supported during 2005-2008 by implementing 2 mechanisms: technical support for the initial state of project development, and financial support (technology capitalization, innovation cluster grant, and venture capital). Recently, management team has approved 5 years action plan from 2006-2009. It consists of 3 main proactive strategies including: upgrading innovation capability (through bio-business, eco-industry, and design & solutions); promoting innovation culture (create awareness through the award promotion, training, book publication, events); and building-up innovation systems (create collaboration between government, academics, research institutes, financial institutes, and industries). The result of this study summarizes barriers (i.e. miss-linking between innovation promoters and financial institute, intellectual properties right protection, and willingness of the top decision maker) and enabling factors (i.e. organizational culture, avoidance of NIH "Not Invented Here" syndrome, and network of innovation ambassadors) to enhance national innovative capabilities especially in the context of newly industrialized country.