QuickBytes: How Thailand’s National Innovation Agency is driving startup growth

Pun-Arj Chairatana, executive director of NIA / Photo credit: NIA

A key element in cultivating a successful startup ecosystem is having government support. Thailand’s ecosystem is on the rise, and the government is doubling down on its efforts to support startups.

The National Innovation Agency (NIA) is one of the main organizations in the country looking to drive startup growth, particularly with its annual event Startup x Innovation Thailand Expo (SITE). In this interview, NIA executive director Pun-Arj Chairatana discusses this year’s edition of SITE and how else the agency is supporting Thailand’s startups.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

What is SITE 2021?

SITE is our flagship event here at NIA, which comes under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation.

NIA was launched in 2016, and we mainly focus on supporting the development of Thailand’s startup ecosystem and its startup communities. SITE was developed as a platform to act as a bridge between the private sector, corporations, universities, and startup ecosystem builders in Thailand, helping drive startup growth and innovation in the country.

SITE was initially two separate events: Startup Thailand, which targeted startup growth and development, while Innovation Thailand was focused more on corporate innovation and research institutions. However, in 2020, we decided that we should have one big event to bring everyone – corporates, researchers, startups, and government agencies – into one place to share ideas.

What does it want to achieve?

For SITE 2021, which was held from September 15 to 18, we focused on the theme “Deeptech Rising: The next frontier of innovation.” The event covered industries such as agritech, medtech, foodtech, and space tech. It also included what we call ARITech, which consists of artificial intelligence and robotics as well as internet of things and immersive technologies.

We want to encourage Thai startups to not just build new solutions on existing technologies, but to also create research-oriented startups who are actually developing and building new technologies and services that can help address the challenges we’re facing in the world today.

How was the response?

We had 69,707 attendees join us at SITE 2021 as well as over 60 speakers from different startups, corporations, and universities sharing their insights across more than 50 sessions.

For example, we had Natwut Amornvivat, co-president of True Corporation, one of Thailand’s biggest telecommunications conglomerates and the firm behind the True Digital Park, as well as Chris Aurand, open innovation leader at the Thai Union Group, a maker of seafood-based products that we’re working with to support innovation in the foodtech space.

SITE 2021 / Photo credit: NIA

We also heard from professors and researchers from the country’s top universities, such as Chulalongkorn University and Chiang Mai University, as well as from startups and innovators both from Thailand and beyond.

SITE 2021 also featured a “marketplace” for young startups to showcase their technology, which saw over 200 participants as well as business matching and consulting programs to help connect startups and corporations.

What was the biggest challenge you faced organizing SITE 2021 and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge we face isn’t organizing SITE itself, but it’s in keeping the momentum going after the event in the lead-up to the next one.

I always tell my team that SITE is a 12-month thing. People think that we work maybe two months before the four-day event and after that, it’s done, but that’s not the case. Once this year’s event is over, preparation for next year starts, and you need to recap and communicate with people all year round to keep the connections and conversations from the event going.

We do this through the other programs and support we offer to startups and innovators, creating pipelines for them to connect and collaborate with corporations.

What is one session from SITE 2021 that you think everyone should watch?

The most interesting ones for me would be the sessions on space tech. We had speakers such as ​​Ekachai Phakdurong, senior vice president and head of regulatory affairs at Thaicom, a satellite operator, and Yuya Nakamura, the CEO of Japan-based microsatellite maker Axelspace. They spoke about the development of the space tech industry in Thailand and at a global scale.

How else does NIA want to help drive startup growth and innovation in Thailand?

For NIA, the main focus lies in developing an ecosystem to support this growth and innovation.

Aside from grants and accelerator programs, we’re mainly focused on the roles of government agencies. We’re working to develop new rules and regulations that could mitigate difficulties that startups face in building up new business models.

It goes beyond operating sandboxes or programs. We need better understanding and willingness to adapt, especially from the public sector, to the new technologies that are emerging. There are also plans to roll out royal decrees that will help promote startup growth, which will be debated in parliament soon.

We’re also looking at financing innovation, as Thailand needs to bring in more funding support, especially for later-stage startups. We want big corporations – both local and international players – in different fields or different sectors to have the capabilities to work with and to invest in Thailand’s startups.

In terms of SITE, the theme for the 2022 edition is “Global Innovation City: Reconnecting to the World.” Hopefully, the world will have opened up by then, and we want to bring together leaders and founders from global startup destinations such as Singapore, Boston, Tokyo, and Tel Aviv to discuss their recovery plans and what the future looks like for startup cities around the world.

The Startup x Innovation Thailand Expo, an annual event organized by the National Innovation Agency, aims to enhance the country’s startup ecosystem by connecting entrepreneurs, experts, and investors.

Watch the sessions from SITE 2021 on demand here.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.