Thai-Corps is an initiative designed to promote research with commercial potential and global competitiveness. It was jointly developed by NXPO, the Program Management Unit for Competitiveness (PMUC), Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), and the Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship Center (IDE Center) at Sripatum University.
Why Thai-Corps?
An innovation ecosystem that supports the creation of new knowledge and the advancement of frontier technologies—such as the development of deep tech startups—is critical to driving Thailand’s future economy. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) has prioritized enabling high-potential researchers to transform their expertise into businesses or establish deep tech startups through funding provided by various PMUs, covering all stages from TRL 1–9. Currently, Thailand has 226 deep tech startups, yet only 26 companies have received investment, and just six have secured Series A funding or higher, according to SCB 10X data (2025). This highlights the persistent challenges deep tech startups face in scaling up and attracting investment. A key barrier is that while Thai researchers possess strong technological expertise, many lack sufficient knowledge of market demand and the real-world challenges of competition, limiting the ability to translate research into commercially viable innovation.
Thai-Corps draws inspiration from the U.S. National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program designed to shift the mindset of professors and researchers toward framing research projects with commercial potential before projects begin. This approach enables teams to leverage their technical expertise to deliver innovations that genuinely address market needs. Over the past decade, I-Corps has engaged more than 2,500 teams, created over 1,400 new businesses—representing more than 50% of participants—and raised more than 110.4 billion THB in funding.
A distinctive feature of I-Corps is its Customer Discovery process. Research teams must conduct at least 100 interviews with potential customers or stakeholders within seven weeks, helping them gain real insights into customer problems and needs. These insights guide adjustments in research direction to increase the likelihood of successful commercialization.
Thai-Corps’s Approach to Research Team Development
Thai-Corps is a support system that equips researchers to design projects with genuine commercial potential. The program emphasizes four key processes:
- Business Validation: Testing the market feasibility of research outcomes
- Customer Discovery: Understanding market needs and refining research objectives
- Entrepreneurial Mindset: Cultivating entrepreneurial skills and thinking
- Thai-Corps Ecosystem: Building networks and connecting to support channels
Through this framework, research teams gain opportunities to work with industry experts, improving their ability to refine and translate research into market-ready innovations.
Thai-Corps: Thailand’s Gateway to an Innovation-Based Economy
To become an innovation-based economy, Thailand needs mechanisms that help researchers and professors design and transform research into competitive businesses. Thai-Corps serves as a cornerstone for strengthening the higher education, science, research, and innovation ecosystem, fostering the growth of deep tech startups, expanding fundraising opportunities, and boosting the nation’s competitiveness. A strong Thai-Corps network—with active participation from universities and partner organizations—is essential to elevate the program to the level of I-Corps in the U.S. and to create meaningful transformation within Thailand’s innovation ecosystem.
The First Step of Thai-Corps
In 2025, NXPO and its partners launched Phase 1 of the Thai-Corps pilot program, the first of three phases, to adapt and test the U.S. I-Corps model in Thailand. Supported by experts and tools from VentureWell, a U.S.-based organization with long-standing experience in I-Corps implementation, Phase 1 ran for 7 weeks from February to April 2025. During this period, 17 out of 22 research teams (80%) participated actively throughout the program, collectively conducting over 1,000 customer discovery interviews. In addition, 14 participants were trained as Thai-Corps coaches.
Long-Term Goals of Thai-Corps
NXPO and its partners aim to advance Thai-Corps as a key mechanism for strengthening Thailand’s innovation ecosystem. The program seeks to develop research teams from government agencies, universities, and the private sector with a stronger understanding of markets and the ability to design research that can be successfully commercialized, using internationally recognized approaches and tools.
In the long run, Thai-Corps is expected to increase the efficiency of investments in higher education, science, research, and innovation, while delivering tangible benefits to researchers and strengthening Thailand’s overall economic competitiveness.
