CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, NATIONAL ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY CENTER, Thailand Visits to three Thai research institutes are reported. While basic research by David K. Kahaner Scientists from the West will not be surprised to discover that the level of computing research in Thailand is much lower than in the West, in Japan, and even in Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. This includes computer science research as well as utilization of advanced computing facilities for other science and engineering computation. The country has many economic and infrastructure problems that take precedence over basic research. However, many Thai scientists have been trained in the West and return to their home with good contacts and are well versed in current technology. In addition, Thailand hosts many scientists from much poorer countries such as Viet Nam who are highly motivated to succeed. The country has had very spectacular economic growth, largely because of the low cost of labor, thus making it the manufacturing center for other countries. One Western factory manager I spoke to explained that basic factory wages are one tenth or less of those in the West. However, real costs are much higher because of inefficiencies and unusual expenses necessary to do business there. (Some of Thailand's business practices have led to being cited as being restrictive to U.S. commerce, especially regarding intellectual property protection.) There are plenty of Western companies in Thailand, but it is not clear to what extent they are engaged in technology transfer or just in manufacturing operations. The key to maintaining economic growth is to educate the population and provide the type of intellectual infrastructure that allows Thai business to add value to labor. For example, the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Energy has provided almost 700M Baht (about US$55M) to build a large science museum in a province just north of Bangkok. The Ministry claims that this will be world class, and that it will attract a half million visitors each year. The project is being developed by the Thailand Institute of Science and Technology Research (TISTR) and will open in 1994. (This is hoped to be the anchor of a technology center.) The largest business in Thailand is the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), which has annual revenues of more than 100B Baht. This is a state enterprise that the state is trying to streamline operations along the lines of a private company. PTT's original structure of power centralization, work duplication, and many rigid regulations (similar to those of other Thai government agencies) has been dismantled, although PTT is still a government agency in the sense that it observes government policy. The Thai government is prepared to spend billions of dollars U.S. in developing and improving the infrastructure to make it adequate for the tremendous expansion that they have been experiencing. Thailand is building new roads, railroads, ports, and telecommunications systems as well as expanding its electricity ity grid. One U.S. diplomat commented that the national bird of Thailand is the construction crane. The problem for the research community, even those who have good Western connections, is that it is difficult to continue their research because of lack of facilities and heavy demands on their time. In addition, keeping in touch with activities far away is taxing. At least one university that we visited, the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) had some electronic mail access. However, it is routed through Australia on a slow and expensive telephone line. Mail messages larger than a few thousand bytes are discouraged, and large messages will not be delivered. One major project of the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) (below) is to improve this situation. Fax is heavily used. Communications infrastructure is seen as a key factor in technical progress during the 1990s. More generally, information technology (IT), is viewed as a tremendous potential for giving not only Thailand, but many other developing countries in the region, an important step up. Governments in these countries are aware that they produce much of the hardware used in the small computer market; see Table 1. However, most of the software is produced elsewhere; this is one area that these countries are determined to change. CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY (BANGKOK) Pronounced Chu/la/lon/korn, this is the oldest and best known university in Thailand. Founded in 1917 on 500 acres in central Bangkok, in honor of Thailand's King Rama V (King Chulalongkorn), who is credited with developing a modern educational system in the country. (When Thailand was known as Siam, education was for males only and was taught in the Buddhist monasteries.) There is still a close and warm connection between the university and the Thai Royal Family. Thai people are unreservedly royalists. "Chula" is a large university, with a faculty of almost 2,500 and 85,000 graduates. Of course, the university's main activity is to educate; however, it also engages in substantial research activities. There are seven research institutes, including Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering, and Metal and Material Science. Also, special pooled research groups (called cells) center around laboratories, such as: • Semiconductor Device Research Lab (SDRL see below), • Semiconductor Design Lab, Computer, • Chemistry Lab, • Neuroscience Lab. The University tries to have an international outlook with various exchange agreements, conferences, and collaborations, although these are highly focused on basic needs, such as health, energy, and population issues. Similarly, there are special area of studies that aim at increasing cultural awareness (American-Canadian Studies, Asian Studies, and Perspectives on Thailand.) A special Technical Cooperation with Neighboring Countries program (TCNC) focuses on interregional cooperation. A student exchange program that initiated recently with the University of Oregon allowed a half dozen U.S. and Thai students to be exchanged. University administrators are enthusiastic about the growth of international programs; the Director and Deputy Director of the International Affairs office obtained graduate degrees in France and the United States, respectively. Also, two English-based graduate programs in business (MBA) and in management (MM) are located at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration within the university. The Sasin Institute is a joint program with faculty from Northwestern University's Kellogg School, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. research on planar silicon techniques. The current staff of about one dozen people includes eight researchers and has added equipment such as gas purifiers, 4-point probe, ultrasonic cleaner, laser system, liquid phase epitaxital furnace for GaAs, molecular beam epitaxy for quantum well devices, scanning electron microscope, automated electrical device characterization system, photoluminescence measurement system, cryogenic system, and electron beam evaporator system. Support for the Center, over the years, totals almost 62M Baht, about US$5M. Of this, the largest single grant was for 25M Baht, in 1992, from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the purchase of a RIBER molecular beam epitaxy machine and accessories. Much smaller grants were also made by the Hitachi Scholarship Foundation, Stiftung Volkswagenwerk Foundation, and the Toray Foundation. Current work in the center includes laser technology, compound semiconductor, photovoltaic system, optoelectronics, and multiquantum well devices. A one kW system was designed and fabricated for use for 24-hour lighting for plankton cultivation. Research is in progress in the area of polysilicon solar cells and GaAs/GaAlAs heterojunctions. In addition to conducting research, SDRL is also supporting projects of five to seven undergraduates and some master's students. In 1985 a Ph.D. program, in EE was approved for the university. Several students associated with the Center have received masters degrees; some others are in the Ph.D. program, but as yet no degrees have been awarded. Accompanying me on this visit to Thailand was Dr. Iqbal Ahmad, of the U.S. Army Asian Research Office. Ahmad agreed with me that we saw very little in the way of state-ofthe-art or world-class research at Chulalongkorn. The SDRL is well established and provides excellent links to industry. It is also beginning to do Ph.D. level work. In my opinion, with which Dr. Ahmad concurs, this laboratory is capable of being a useful partner to Western researchers and would provide a good longterm investment. The Director, Prof. Somsak Panyaeow expressed a desire to work closely with U.S. scientists. At this time his interactions are mainly with Japan and France. The VLSI Design Lab was meagerly equipped and doing only the most basic design and simulation work. There are 12 IC assembly plants, but no fabrication facilities in Thailand. The main task of this and other labs is currently to train undergraduate and a few masters students. This does not permit venturing into many areas of advanced research. For example, in the semiconductor lab, I explained to one faculty member about the Mosis prototype fabrication project in the United States; he was totally unaware of this. We saw no computer science research of significant depth. Electronic mail communication with the West does not appear to be available yet. NATIONAL ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY CENTER (NECTEC) At NECTEC we visited Dr Pairash Thajchayapong, National Electronics and Rama 6 Road, Phyathai NECTEC is the Thai government organization charged with upgrading the country's research and development capability in electronics and computer technologies as well as accelerating computerization of Thai society. This is quite consistent with my earlier comments that IT is seen as an important growth area and that Thailand cannot rely of the exploitation of cheap labor to fuel societal improvements for much longer. NECTEC's current budget is in excess of 60M Baht (about US$5M) and is used to fund activities in twelve major program areas. * Subfractional horsepower * Artificial intelligence * VLSI design and fabrication to be addressed by using their given name) told me that he expects a lab to be set up soon, and plans to have about 60 engineers within two years. Several projects have been completed however. Two computer related projects that I was told about were a Thai-speaking clock and a CAI package. An active research and development effort involves making X to 25 connections to a dozen Thai universities and then to the Internet. Printed circuit board assembly also exists at the local Century Electronics System Co-not earth-shaking, but a small, step toward developing internal expertise. Thai software houses are very small, and skills are weak. For example, an effort to develop software for tax computation had to be contracted out to a Danish company. On the other hand, a local effort was successful at developing Thai-language computer character set for display on PC screens. a The best way to improve local skills is by cooperating with others; a view that is supported by NECTEC. There are two current international NECTEC projects. Microelec ASEAN-Australia tronics (1986-1992), which resulted in an 8-bit counter and a decoder. Other countries involved in this are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore. Machine translation system for Japan and Neighboring Countries Project (1987-1992). This is coordinated by the Japanese Center of International Cooperation for Computerization (CICC), which is working on machine independent software packages for translation of languages in participating countries, i.e., China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, and Thailand. CICC also has other training-related programs; for example, one that provides training courses in computer system software technolo gy. The courses are held in Japan. All travel and living expenses are borne by CICC. NECTEC's new projects are focused on hardware development, software development, and legal and information management. There will also be a program to provide services to inspect standards for electronics and computer products in order to help promote export of these items. In the past, many Thai electronic/computer products have failed to pass importers inspection. One aspect of the information management project involves studying details of foreign laws on technology to help the Thai private sector in avoiding conflicts over copyright issues regarding software. NECTEC also supports a CAD Center that has several popular Western software products, including Auto Cad, Orcad, Mould Flow, Mentor Graphic, and Unigraphic II. The Center has three HP9000 Unix workstations available, about a dozen HP Vectra ES, and a similar number of Tavon (386 SX) PCs. While at NECTEC we were told about two other technology Centers, but did not see either one. The National Center for Metals and Materials Technology (NCMM), and the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NCGEB). NCGEB is focused on agricultural (land and marine) applications as well as public health. NCMM promotes research in metals as well as in ceramics, polymers, fibers, textiles, and rubber. In these, as well as all NECTEC's projects, there is a strong commitment toward international and bilateral cooperation, especially with advanced Western countries. We were specifically told about agreements between Thailand and Germany, Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States. |