Thailand’s incubation system is, despite its early stages, highly dynamic and the most advanced in the Mekong Region. In Vietnam and Cambodia, on the other hand, the development of business incubators is very new. Currently Thailand has over 60 business incubators, under the support programs of 4 main government organizations: National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA); Commission on Higher Education (CHE); The Office of SMEs Promotion (OSMEP) and Department of Industrial Promotion (DIP). 

In July, 2006, the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) of Thailand secured an infoDev grant for “Strengthening the business incubation system in Thailand and its anchor function in the Mekong Region”. The main goal is to strengthen the Thai business incubation system through capacity building, networking, and expansion, as well as testing a performance monitoring and evaluation standard with a nation-wide status evaluation of business incubators. Another goal is to strengthen the anchor function of Thailand by fostering collaboration with other incubator projects in the Mekong Region, especially in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines. A project website ‘MBIA – Mekong Region Business Incubator Alliances’ www.nstda.or.th/mbia  and ICT-enabled support via an electronic knowledge management system (eKMS) help to jointly build up knowledge of good practices in incubator management in the region. 

The “Executive Forum for Business Incubation as an Effective Tool for Economic Development” was held on 22nd June 2007 at Sofitel Central Hotel, Bangkok,Thailand.  The main aim was to raise awareness about business incubation with stakeholders (government, universities, private sector), Technology Parks, Venture Capital and appropriate policy frameworks.

The forum was planned for 70 participants but attracted significant interest and 115 people participated from all regions of Thailand, and from the Philippines and Malaysia.  The high level of interest in the forum indicates good prospects for business incubation in Thailand and the positive responses reflect participants' acceptance and acknowledgement of the role of business incubation in the country.

The feedback forms showed that the forum contributed to increased knowledge and understanding about business incubation, as a popular economic development tool to help fledgling businesses grow. Participants rated the forum as ‘good’ referring to the content and its applicability to their work, and were satisfied with the speakers’ presentations and the organizational support provided by the Project Team for the participants.  The Forum had positive concrete and immediate results by acknowledging the critical role that business incubators play in supporting new business development and the importance of ICT in facilitating entrepreneurship.  The evaluation showed that the level of knowledge of business incubation amongst participants improved from a minimal or a fair level, to a good level at the end of the event.

The distinguished speakers played a crucial role in making the event a great success. The program started with an overview of innovation, entrepreneurship, incubation, technology parks and venture capital by Mr. Julian Webb, Asia Region Facilitator for the World Bank’s infoDev Incubator Initiative. This was followed by the presentations from policy maker perspectives, learning from countries with experience, about “Innovation & Entrepreneurship Policy Frameworks & Incubation”. Mr. H.K. Mittal, Adviser and  Head, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India spoke about the policy framework and evolution of incubation in India. Mr. Annuar Saffar, Executive Director of Kulim Technology Park Malaysia, spoke about the Malaysian Experience in Building Sustainable Incubation Industry. Both spoke frankly noting mistakes as well as successes. To give a university and Korean perspective, Dr. Hong Kim, Dean, Graduate School of Global Entrepreneurship, Hoseo University talked about the development of incubation in Korea in a university context.   The final session focused on venture capital - “Policy frameworks for venture capital, learning how countries have developed their VC industries”.  Ms. Lynne Thomson, Manager, Venture Capital Programs in the Australian Government (AusIndustry), spoke about Australia’s experience: “Venture Capital Programs of Australian Department of Industry”.  Mr. Chew Mun Hou, CEO, iAxil Ptd Ltd. and President of Arcasia Properties, Singapore spoke about “Venture Capital for Start-ups – The Singapore Experience” providing fruitful information to help potential funders better understand incubation and client needs.  All presentations were extremely informative, and illustrated the importance of the topic to all participants.  

The positive responses to the forum are a reflection of participants' acceptance and acknowledgement of the growing importance of business incubation in Thailand.  The event serves as an initial step for all stakeholders (government, policy makers, universities, private sectors and financial institutions, start-ups) to put increased effort into establishing good policies, linkages and collaboration to strengthen the business incubation system in Thailand. 

For more information, please visit the project website www.nstda.or.th/mbia or e-mail Naowarat Aywongs at NSTDA at naowarat@swpark.org