Kan Trakulhoon, chief executive of Siam Cement Plc (SCG), the country's biggest industrial conglomerate, attributed low productivity and weak competitiveness to the country's poor research and development over the past decade.
He said Thailand had set aside very small budgets for research and development, which was equivalent to only around 1% of its GDP this year.
The central government should increase the annual budget for research and development to up to 120 billion baht,