On February 20th, 2023 on the 39th floor, Rabiangsilrafa Kasikorn Bank, Rat Burana Office: Assoc. Prof. Siree Chaiseri, Ph.D., director of the PMUC, together with Assoc. Prof. Thongchai Suwansich, Ph.D., deputy director of the PMUC and Assoc. Prof. Wanee Chonhenchop, chairperson of the High-value Food Program Subcommittee, participated in a ceremony to sign a memorandum of understanding under the Nan Sandbox project.
Signing ceremony for cooperation between 6 agencies to support research and development of medicinal plants, consisting of 3 parts:
- Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the development of medicines and health promoting products from plants between Kasikorn Foundation, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Center of Excellence for Life Sciences and the PMUC.
- Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on the development of medicines and health promoting products from plants between Kasikorn Thai Foundation and Government Pharmaceutical Organization.
- Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in promoting the utilization of databases for research and development and innovation in the production of medicines and health promoting products from medicinal plants between the Kasikorn Thai Foundation and the Biodiversity-Based Economy Development Office (BEDO).
Mr. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, chairman of the KASIKORNTHAI FOUNDATION, said that “Kasikornthai Foundation and the 5 main organizations that signed the MOU today want our children to have a better life. It’s the duty of all of us to take action and help the dream to materialize. At Kasikornthai Foundation We believe that we all have a civic duty to take care of the environment, reduce inequality, giving everyone equal access to quality of life. But we can’t do it alone. It is the duty of every department in building cooperation Let’s work together to bring back the forest.”
Nann is an important watershed forest. Forest problems are people’s problems, not just reforestation. People must be able to live as well. This is how the idea came about to develop medicinal plants in the “Nan Sandbox Project”, which is a special form of space management for sustainable management of natural resources and the environment in the Nann area” Mr. Banthoon Lamsam, the chairman of the private sector committee of the project, was a person who took the intiative to promote preservation of the Nann watershed forests. He saw the problems affecting the “people” in the forest area, and decided that there must be ways to help the local people have a good quality of life as well. The key is to solve forest problems in a sustainable way, growing crops to increase income from the development of medicines from medicinal plants that grow in the forest; creating innovations in agroforestry and botanical pharmaceuticals to make a supply chain from the upstream research studies to the downstream production of goods, combined with appropriate marketing and sales efforts, which will help to solve the problem of Nann forest sustainably. According to the determination of Kasikorn Bank, which is the first bank in Thailand to sign the “UN Principles for Responsible Banking: UN PRB”, has business goals that respond to the global sustainability agenda, including the impact of climate change, by way of promoting environmentally friendly businesses and the creation of a zero-carbon society to push for protection and preservation of the environment, so that we can pass it on to the next generation.
Assoc. Prof. Siree Chaiseri, Ph.D., director of the PMUC, said that the PMUC is responsible for managing capital in order to increase the country’s competitiveness, by allocating funds from the Science, Research and Innovation Fund to support the transfer of research work from the laboratory to commercialization. This includes granting funds for testing, assistance in the innovation registration process, and using advanced technology to achieve higher value products. “All of the aforementioned work cannot be done by us alone. In pushing for products to be commercialized we must all work together from all sectors, including government, private, research agencies, including the transfer of technology from foreign countries to achieve more advanced technology. The goal is to achieve economic stability without destroying natural resources and the environment. Today’s MOU is an example of cooperation from all sectors. It is a handshake between the private and public sectors, and is a project that will create a new phenomenon that will bring significant changes to the country.
