In advanced nations, the R&D trend is leaning towards disruptive technology and making improvement on current technologies to align with the new economies – the creative economy and sharing economy. Furthermore, the R&D investment is jointly contributed by the government, industry and academia within the country or from overseas. These practices enable technology and innovation to progress rapidly, thus raising the nation’s competitiveness.

Thailand 4.0 policy sets the target to free the country from the middle-income trap and become an innovation-driven economy. To realize this vision, Thailand needs to strengthen its competitiveness which is the primary mission of PMU-C. “Research and Innovation for Competitiveness Enhancement Platform” engages stakeholders in the development, planning, implementation and evaluation processes as a strategy to enrich an innovation ecosystem and strengthen infrastructure in order to underpin the creation and transfer of knowledge and technology for competitiveness enhancement and sustainable economic growth.

Funding criteria

Funding criteria set by PMU-C Executive Board are as follows:

Screening

  1. Proposals must have clear objectives that are in line with PMU-C’s program.
  2. Proposals must have industry participation with no less than 10% cash contribution and no less than 10% in-kind contribution.
  3. Proposals must be at TRL4 stage or above.
  4. Principal investigators must be knowledgeable in the field of proposed studies and have a reasonable level of responsibility.

Technical Review

Proposals are reviewed by no less than three selected experts to assess scientific merit, viability and utilization.

Program Board

  1. A program board has been established for each funding program with an authority given by PMU-C Executive Board to approve proposals requesting less than THB 10 million fund per project from PMU-C. The board consists of experts with equal representation of the government, academia and industry.
  2. Bringing research to commercialization requires substantial investment, and therefore projects of this kind can be expensive and involve enterprises as grant recipients. Proposals requesting more than THB 30 million fund per project from PMU-C are subject to an addition step to assess impact and business viability, to ensure that promised outputs and outcomes can be delivered and enterprises obtaining funding will be successful in moving research to market.

Monitoring and Evaluation

PMU-C has published a project management manual on its website to help grant recipients manage grants after being awarded. Grant recipients are entrusted to manage the fund according to the regulations and with prudence and transparency.

Each approved project will undergo the monitoring process under the supervision of the program board to ensure that the project proceeds as planned and problems arising can be resolved in a timely manner. The process consists of progress reports, site visits and meetings.

Once the project is completed, the results will be analyzed and brought to the attention of the program board to provide recommendations for future development.