43
AUG 2017 FOOD FOCUS THAILAND
SPECIAL
INTERVIEW
We can get answers and spark some creative ideawith the project
named “Innovative House Product Development”, one of a series of
projects under the industry department of theThailandResearch Fund
(TRF).
“TRFand the Industrial TechnologyAssistant Program (ITAP) of the
National ScienceandTechnologyDevelopmentAgency (NSTDA) have
jointly supported research scholar for SMEs, which is aimed todevelop
thepotential of enterprises in the foodand related industries, aswell as
enhance business handicap,” Assistant Professor Dr.Sopark Sonwai,
Coordinator of Innovative House said. He added that the goal of this
project isR&Dof theproducts,build technologyand innovativeproducts,
aswell as studyparadigm inorder toadd value toagricultural products,
reduce production costs for food industry, cosmetics, and dietary
supplements.
”Wewould like tosupport theuseof innovation todriveupbusinesses
growth.Whether youwant to solveexistingproduct problems, increase
productivity, reduceproductioncosts,orevendevelopnewproducts,we
takecare toget the formulawhichcanbe furtherexpanded forcommercial
scale,” saidAssistant Professor Dr.Sopark.
Whether foodandbeverage industryentrepreneurs issmall,mediumor large,orwhether
they are new or last-long in the industry, many may have questions, have idea but no
market, or a family business, which they need to change and create new idea to serve
demand of themarket.
Researchto IncreaseBusinessOpportunities
In terms of budget support, Innovative House Project has funded
THB100million.The fundcouldbedivided into twopillars; 1)Functional
group focusing on innovation, in-depth research for research period
between 12-18 months with a budget of THB 52 million from TRF. In
eachproject, TRFprovides support by 80percent of thebudgets, while
enterprises have supported their own budget by at least 20 percent,
whichare in cash (10 percent) and another 10 percent is rawmaterials
or research tools (in-kind) and 2) The RPD Group or Research and
Product Development emphasizing on new product development or
problem solving. The research period is 10 months. The total budget
fundedbyTRFand ITAPof NSTDAworthTHB48million. Eachproject
will be funded worth THB 480,000. TRF and ITAP of NSTDA provides
support worth THB 320,000 and enterprises have supported their own
budgetTHB160,000,whichare incash (THB80,000)and rawmaterials
or research tools (THB 80,000).
”The RPD group will be divided into three main categories; food
science and technology research, primary marketing, and design of
prototypepackaging.After theendof the researchproject,wewillcontinue
to follow up the case whether enterprises can sell the product to the
market or not. We also give further support if enterprises face any
problems.”Assistant Professor Dr.Sopark said.
For over adecade, the InnovativeHouseProject has servedas the
home of innovation with a team of creative for more than 100 people
whicharea teamof scientificand technological researchers,marketing
and design team. All of them are prompted to provide consultants and
suggestions forentrepreneurs.Manysuccessfulproducts from Innovative
Houseandproducts thatgetcertificationand logo from InnovativeHouse
are such as Banana Society Co., Ltd., Murrah Dairy Co., Ltd., Kanom
Kobkid Co., Ltd., Tofusan Co., Ltd., Pon KumWan Co., Ltd. and etc.
Companies, which have already joined the project are gathering as a
new business cluster. They are ready to transfer know-how and
experience to new comer in order to help increase efficiency for next
generationenterprises.With theconcreteachievement ofmore than10
years, it can prove that researchwork canworkwell for businesses.
