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JUN 2017 FOOD FOCUSTHAILAND
How has Industry 4.0 emerged and affected
theASEANCommunity?
Industry4.0hasemergedas technologybreakthroughssuch
as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the internet of things
(IoT), 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, material
science, tonamea few,havebeen introduced. “Manyof these
innovationsare in their infancy, but theyarealready reaching
an inflection point in their development as they build on and
amplify each other in a fusion of technologies across the
physical, digital and biological worlds” explained Klaus
Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World
Economic Forum.
Industry 4.0 carries a profound and systematic change
not only in terms of speed but also returns to scale due to
digitization and automation. Aside from speed and breadth,
Industry 4.0 is distinctive as it grows harmonization and
integration of somany different disciplines and discoveries.
Over the past few years, challenges created by Industry 4.0
appear to be mostly on the supply side in most developed
countries as well as some fast-growing economies
accompaniedbya significant decline in the shareof labor as
a percentage of GDP primarily due to the fall in the relative
priceof investment goods.Thegreat beneficiariesof Industry
4.0, though,are theprovidersof intellectualorphysical capital
– the innovators, the investors, and the shareholders, which
explains the risinggap inwealthbetween thosewhodepend
on their labor and thosewhoown capital. TheAssociationof
SoutheastAsianNations,orASEAN, represents10countries,
boundbygeographicproximitybutalsovaryingwidely insize,
population, and resources–and thereforedisplayingsharply
different levels of development andperformance in research
and technology. The ASEAN community can view Industry
4.0 as either opportunity or challenge. But, it is an evitable
trend thatwill certainlycauseadisruptiveshift inqualityof life
for our citizens, and so the question iswill it further widen or
narrow thegap ofASEANeconomy?
An Overview of ASEAN Research and
Innovation
TheASEAN region ismakingprogress in termsofhome-grown
innovation; ASEAN nations’ investment in their own R&D
efforts isbeginning to yieldbenefits. However,manyASEAN
economieswere still toodependent on foreign investment in
science, technologyand innovation (STI), investing less than
1% of their total gross domestic product according to the
former ASEAN Secretary-General Emeritus Professor Dr.
Surin Pitsuwan in 2015; therefore, increased cooperation
betweenASEANmembers and streamlining of resources to
strengthen their economies is recommended. Looking at
ASEAN’s current scientific performance, we observed the
followings:
• Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand dominate ASEAN
research communities and have accounted for 85% of the
region’s researchpublication
• Inselectedspecialtyareas,ASEANcanbeseen tohave relatively
high shares of publication and citation rate in the field of Engineering
andTechnology (2.98%worldshare).MaterialsSciencehas thehighest
percentageof highlycitedpapers (1.94%worldshare).The technology
focus of ASEAN patenting during 2010-2014 is more towards the
chemical, agricultural and medical sectors and less towards
semiconductors and telecommunications.
• Singapore, Cambodia, and Lao PDR have exceeded this rate
(worldaverage impact)although thismight bepartiallyexplainedby the
very high levels of international collaboration in some countries.
Since, there is the correlation between a country’s knowledge
economy and its scientific output, and at the same time, the disparity
between the performance of the ASEAN group, bilateral comparison
mayshowahiddenpattern. ThailandandMalaysiaarepaired together
as they have close RDI capacity showing a potential to leverage the
strengths of each country. In terms of research output, Malaysia has
sharply increased its share of the database from 2006-2015 while
Thailandshowsamoregradual trend.However, Thailand trackscloser
to the world impact average for most of the interval since 2006.
Percentageof highly citedpublications confirmsMalaysia’s strength in
the field of Engineering and Space Science. Thailand, meanwhile,
registers highest in theMultidisciplinary category, followedbyPhysics.
Research foci suggest Malaysia’s leadership in palm oil and biodiesel
andThailand’sstrength inclinicalmedicine.Acloser look intopatenting
output for Malaysia shows healthy growth in the number of granted
patents (2010-2014)with technologyareasof grantedpatents reported
for chemical and medicinal sectors and high-tech sectors concerning
semiconductor devices, digital data processing, transmission and
storage, and image technology – this trend does not surface when
consideringASEAN as awhole.
National STI Context,AWayTowards the
Digital Economy
The beneficiaries of Industry 4.0 will be those countries who quickly
adapt to take benefit of regional integration that captures a population
of more than 600 million and GDP of around 2.4 trillion USD (ACIF,
2016). The beginning of 2016marked a key milestone for all ASEAN
Member States (AMS) with the launch of the ASEAN Economic
Community as a single commonmarket that will lead to a freer flow of
goods, services, investment capital and skilled labor in the region. STI
cooperation in theASEAN region has taken on a new dimension as it
shifts from the sociocultural pillar to the economic pillar. This move
indicates a more pronounced emphasis of STI on economic benefits
within the region.
Thailand
The importanceofSTI toThailand’ssocio-economic
developmentandprogress is representedby three
strategy documents.
• 11
th
NationalEconomicandSocialDevelopmentplans2012-2016
– Setting the goal of a GERD/GDP ratio of 1%with 70% contribution
from the private sector, the plan focuses on creating a knowledge
