On June 21, 2017, General Prayut Chan-ocha, the Prime Minister of Thailand, together with Admiral Narong Pipatanasai, Deputy Prime Minister, General Anupong Paojinda, Minister of Interior, General Chatchai Sarikunlaya, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mrs. Unchaka Seeboonrueng, Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Teerakiat Charoensetthasilp, Minister of Education, Mr. Suwit Mesintree, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office visited Khon Kaen and gave a special talk on “Driving Thailand 4.0 in the Northeastern Region” at the Golden Jubilee Convention Hall, Khon Kaen University. More than 7,000 participants attended the event including administrators from both government and private sectors, lecturers, academics, researchers, entrepreneurs, businesspersons, university staff, students, general public, and farmers under the project to alleviate urban poverty. The Prime Minister and the group also visited and exhibition titled “KKU Research and Innovation towards Thailand 4.0” which displayed exhibits about agriculture, food, health, future material and energy, bio economy, ICT and Smart City.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kittichai Triratanasirichai, KKU president, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rungsan Niamsanit, Director of Institute of Strategy and Coordination for North Eastern Development (ISCND), Mr. Weera Pakuthai, ISCND’s consultant, Dr. Hirun Sawaengkaew, Head of the project to alleviate urban poverty in Borabue and Gosumpisai Districts of Mahasarakam Province, Mr. Boworn Wisetdee, the community development volunteer at Non Daeng Sub-district, and Mrs. Suwimon Janpeng, a farmer role model at Tung Phong Sub-district presented how to apply knowledge obtained from teaching and learning, research, and development to alleviate urban poverty via the process of involvement with the attitude of self-reliance to ‘understand, access, develop, and example’, based on the self-sufficiency philosophy. Then, the Prime Minister and the group visited the booth of agricultural products from the farmers in the project at Gold Jubilee Convention Hall, Khon Kaen University.
General Prayut Chan-ocha, the Prime Minister said that driving Thailand 4.0 was a goal for the country and its people, and that we have to work together in order for Thailand to overcome middle-income trap and to become a country with high-income evenly distributed in all sectors. The economy should be driven by innovation. Thailand should be aimed at becoming more stable, wealthier, and more sustainable by inventing more innovative products. We would change from traditional agriculture to the more modern one, emphasizing on management and the use of modern technology. We would change from traditional SMEs to Smart Enterprises and efficient Startups. The low-skilled labors would change to high-skilled and talented ones. Thailand 4.0 focuses on the coordination between the government and the private sectors, communities, provinces, and educational institutes with the royal self-sufficiency philosophy to develop and strengthen the country from the inside out.
“To drive Thailand 4.0 policy, we have to simultaneously encourage all 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 to work towards Thailand 4.0 because Thai people in the 4.0 era are the 21st century people who have knowledge, skills, voluntary mind, and social responsibility,” said the prime minister.
Also, the Prime Minister praised KKU for having been a pride for the past 5 decades, and being a regional high level educational institute emphasizing on the research for the society as the base, leading to various innovations that help solving social problems. The university research will play a crucial role in supporting the government policies.
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