On June 20, the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), New York office participated in the 10th Annual Wharton DC Innovation Summit 2024 at Valo Park, Tysons Corner Virginia. This year’s event themed “LEVERAGE AN INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM: MAXIMIZE YOUR RESULTS” brought together entrepreneurs, family businesses, and Venture Capitals (VCs) to share their experiences and insights on innovation, business startups, and fundraising. Key topics included Sustainability and Energy, Healthcare and Biotechnology, Financing and Financial Technology, and Creative Innovation. H.E. the Thai Ambassador to the U.S., Dr. Suriya Chindawongse, and the team Thailand from the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, DC. joined the event which was attended by about 120 people.   An important objective for the BOI in participating in this Summit was to determine important trends in innovation development in businesses and therefore identify potential partners that would be interested in investing in Thailand including in areas such as innovation and sustainability.   A highlight of the Summit was a panel discussion on “Creating and Leveraging Innovation Ecosystem” featuring Assoc. Prof. Dr. Natcha Thaweesaengsakulthai, Director of the National Innovation Agency at Chulalongkorn University and Global Chief of the CU Innovation Hub, was a special speaker, alongside other experts in innovation ecosystem development. This session emphasized the importance of collaboration and unlocking startup business opportunities in a rapidly changing business landscape.

 

1. The key ideas related to change management and innovation are as follows;  

- Key advice to entrepreneurs: Be adaptable and prepared for change: therefore, do not be afraid to fail because failures will happen. Take action and do not overthink things. Sometimes, one should just throw the spaghetti against the wall and see how things develop.

- The U.S. ecosystem and regulations enable people to take action and take risks by mitigating the impact of failure, with safety nets provided by bankruptcy laws and employment insurance. 

- But the U.S. ecosystem has flaws and this includes the education system which does not promote innovation. There are very few programs that link between education and placement in tech firms, for example. One innovation to counter this is “breakthrough labs” which support innovation in minority-owned entrepreneurship.  

- Nevertheless, in taking action, the general advice is to adopt a good balance between risk-taking and de-risking.  

2. Managing transition from innovation to business expansion  

- Not all innovators are good business people so sometimes it is difficult to transition from the initial innovation phase to business expansion phase.  

- Therefore, it is sometimes important for innovators to let go and allow business people to take over the enterprise when the time is appropriate. When visionary founders realize that they can no longer take forward a company, they need to step aside for professional CEOs to manage the enterprise in its the next phase, namely, business expansion.  

- Important phases in a business development cycle: (1) innovation, (2) scaling up of the business, (3) commercialization, (4) re-innovation (when the company needs re-energizing or when market conditions change) 

- All companies should have executive coaches to manage the transition or to maximize performance in each of the different phases. 

- Governments are entities that find it most difficult to make transitions because they take time to adapt to changing conditions. 

Additionally, the BOI joined the session “Initiating & Maintaining Sustainability Initiatives” to gain insights into the green technology trend currently impacting worldwide. This session concluded that sustainability, innovation, and financing need to reinforce one another. Practicality is key: the private sector will pursue ESG and other green business practices in response to customer demand. Possible tools to support sustainability projects include the ERA and green financing for TESLA EVs. Many energy transition projects are worthwhile because in the long-term there are energy cost which make products more sustainable.