The Ministry of Higher Education collaborates with the Ministry of Commerce to mobilize university and science park platforms to enhance SME product value and launches a course to build understanding of "Intellectual Property Strategy."
On 23 April, at the Burchatchaya Conference Room, Ministry of Commerce, Mr. Yossanan Wongsawat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), and Mrs. Supachai Suthammanont, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, held a joint meeting to integrate cooperation between the two ministries. The meeting included permanent secretaries from both agencies and executives to connect research and innovation bases with global market mechanisms.
Mr. Yossanan revealed that the key to transforming Thailand’s economy into a "High Value Economy" is to help entrepreneurs understand that "the true value of business in the modern world lies in ideas and innovation," not just physical products. Therefore, the Ministry of Higher Education is intensifying knowledge development through the Intellectual Property Strategy (IP Strategy) course to promote an "IP Mindset" among SMEs and Thai farmers, enabling them to recognize and derive value from research to create high-value assets.
The implementation is divided into two phases. In the urgent phase, the Ministry of Higher Education will mobilize platforms from the nationwide network of universities and science parks to act as mentors in technology transfer and IP Strategy courses to increase product value and sustainably address livelihood issues.
In the long term, the Ministry of Higher Education will serve as the "frontline," collaborating with the Association of Intellectual Property Managers (AITP) and the Council of University Presidents of Thailand (CUPT) to screen high-quality research in preparation for the Ministry of Commerce’s registration process.
"My goal is to break down barriers related to time and misunderstanding of idea value. If we can equip entrepreneurs intellectually through the IP Strategy course to see that value lies in ideas, and the Ministry of Higher Education systematically prepares the front end, we can push for patent registrations of all products to be completed within just one year, which will transform Thailand’s competitiveness on the world stage," Mr. Yossanan said. "This is my statement," Mr. Yossanan added.
Mrs. Supachai stated that the Ministry of Commerce is ready to follow through by linking market mechanisms with the Ministry of Higher Education’s research through four main dimensions: upgrading local agricultural products with unique identities; creating an intellectual property ecosystem for business collateral (IP Finance); turning shelved research into export products; and developing data systems for entrepreneurs. The ministry will collaborate with the National Innovation Agency (NIA) and the Ministry of Finance to unlock the ability for small entrepreneurs to use patents or intellectual property as collateral for loans, thereby strengthening the grassroots economy in a tangible way.
