National Innovation System in Less Successful Developing Countries: The case of Thailand By

While the study on NIS concept as a whole is still at the early stage, the study on NIS in developing countries is at an even more primitive stage. Main focuses of studies on NIS in developing countries were on countries that have intensive technological learning and, hence, successfully catching up with developed countries. This paper, using Thailand as a case study, aims at understanding the NIS in developing countries that are less successful in technological catching up. It proposes that, as opposed to developed countries and NIEs, the development level of NIS in Thailand does not link to its economic structural development level. As she has experienced structural changes from agriculture-dominated economy to an economy predominantly oriented on the industrial sector, its NIS remains weak and fragmented. The mismatch between the economic structural development and the development of NIS affected the competitiveness of the nation and partially contributed to economic crisis started in 1997. The paper argues that studies of NIS in countries less successful in technological catching up like Thailand should focus not only on how innovation related activities start and improve over time, but also and more importantly, on factors contributing to the long-running perpetuation of weak and fragmented NIS, especially those preventing intensive technological learning to take place. Enhancement of ‘embedded autonomy ’ of government bureaucracies is a policy recommendation