Science and technology for development

The project will establish an S&T Development Board (STDB); upgrade S&T policy and practice; finance research, development, and engineering (RD&E) activities; and promote industrial development. The project will establish the STDB as an independent sub-unit of the Thailand Institute of S&T to assist public and private sector RD&E efforts. Use of the STDB by a wide range of institutions is intended to create a broad institutional framework for Thai S&T. Long- and short-term TA, workshops, and commodities will support this effort. The project will upgrade Thai S&T policy and practice by financing: (1) short-term TA to help key public and private policy planning institutions identify and rank major RD&E issues; (2) 25 studies by Thai institutions aimed at addressing specific policy constraints already identified; and (3) professional exchanges of Thai S&T policymakers and their counterparts in selected countries. The project will finance 126 RD&E activities by indigenous entities in three key areas - bioscience and biotechnology, material technology, and applied electronic technology. Of these activities, STDB will assign 48 with development priority to specific institutions and will link the latter to U.S. institutions. Some 60 competitive RD&E activities will help solve industry problems, while 18 will help private companies implement RD&E activities of their own choosing. Graduate training (25 Ph.D. and 30 M.Sc. degrees) as well as workshops, conferences, short-term training, etc. will support this effort. To promote industrial development, a public/private coordinating committee and STDB, supported by TA, U.S. training, and workshops, will improve standards, testing, and quality control; efforts will include, inter alia, establishing a national voluntary laboratory accreditation system and upgrading select meteorological equipment in the project"s three areas of concentration. A Technical Information Access Center to serve the RD&E and private sector communities will be established to provide low-cost, reliable information through access to Thai-U.S. data networks. Finally, manufacturers, technologists, and scientists will be connected to qualified diagnostic research/design consultants by an STDB consulting service unit.