At the ASEAN Innovation Roadmap & Bioeconomy Forum in Conjunction with GBS2020, NXPO President Dr. Kitipong Promwong presided over an opening of the session on “ASEAN Bioeconomy Policy Sharing & Bioeconomy Network” taking place on 18 November 2020. He also joined a panel of five ASEAN experts in the session that was moderated by NXPO Vice President Dr. Kanchana Wanichkorn.

In this session, Dr. Kitipong presented Thailand’s Bio-Circular-Green Economy (BCG) model that the Thai Government is implementing by employing science, technology and innovation to enhance the competitiveness and create sustainability in four S-curve industries, namely food and agriculture, energy and material, medical and wellness, and tourism and services. He further discussed BCG strategies on value creation and supporting facilities such as tax and investment incentive measures issued by the government, manpower and new market development, and infrastructures like Thailand Science Park, EECi and Food Innopolis. Also highlighted in his talk were the area-based development program that aims to strengthen capability of local communities and promote grassroots economy, the need to develop skilled workforce to drive forward the BCG economy and the Nakhonsawan BioComplex project launched by Thai private sector. Dr. Kitipong concluded his presentation with potential ASEAN collaboration such as staff exchange, shared scientific infrastructure, innovation sandbox and joint investment.

Also participating in the session were experts from ASEAN member countries offering information on bioeconomy in their respective countries, namely blue economy & marine science in the Philippines, synthetic biology in Singapore, joint scholarship & research fellowship in Malaysia and smart farming in Indonesia. The session was concluded with the expert panel supporting the initiative to establish ASEAN BCG Network that Thailand recently proposed to the ASEAN Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI).

In addition to ASEAN forum, Dr. Kitipong spoke at the virtual GBS2020 plenary session on Investing in Bioeconomy on 20 November. He joined a panel of experts from the UK, Argentina and the US and discussed bioeconomy development in Thailand and key players and drivers of Thai bioeconomy.