Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), in collaboration with the ASEAN Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI), hosted Workshop of the Collaboration on Science, Technology and Innovation on 13-17 November 2023 at Mandarin Hotel Bangkok. NXPO representatives attending this event included President Dr. Kitipong Promwong, Vice President Dr. Siriporn Pittayasophon, International Policy Partnership Director Dr. Pranpreya Sriwannawit Lundberg, Senior Policy Specialist Ms. Vipaporn Asavapisit, and Policy Specialist Dr. Apichat Aphaiwong. The workshop featured various activities, including Special Meeting of the Board of Advisers to COSTI (BAC) and a brainstorming session.
At the Special Meeting of BAC, Dr. Kitipong represented Thailand and served as the meeting co-chairman. The objective of this meeting was to discuss the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science, Technology and Innovation 2026 – 2035. Dr. Kitipong proposed adding dialogues with non-government organizations in the new plan of action to increase engagement with the underprivileged, youth and the new generation. In addition, Dr. Pranpreya made comments on the UN’s increasing attention to engaging those social groups and introduced the APEC Center for Technology Foresight (APEC CTF), hosted by NXPO, as a potential collaborator to share its practices and experience with BAC.
Concerning the roles of BAC, Dr. Siriporn suggested that, in addition to providing general advice to COSTI, BAC may consider giving foresight recommendations and setting directions and strategies for science, technology and innovation development to address the ever-changing global landscape and disruption.
Furthermore, NXPO representatives participated in a brainstorming session, alongside representatives from ASEAN member countries, tackling various issues such as the revision of the ASEAN Innovation Roadmap 2019 – 2025 to meet global challenges, the drafting of the ASEAN Talent Mobility Charter, and the preparation of landscape study and data collection to support the ASEAN Regional Research Infrastructure (ASEAN RRI) initiative.
