She made the comment after Washington announced that Thailand’s PWL status would remain unchanged, even though the country had tried hard to crack down on intellectual-property infringement, continuously promoting IP awareness and enforcing laws.

Despite the country’s long presence on the PWL, it has not yet affected foreign-investor confidence or trade between Thailand and the US, she said.

“The Kingdom has strenuously attempted to suppress infringement and enforce many IP-rights-related laws. Thailand will continue to solve the problem, in line with the … focus on innovation and the digital economy,” she said.

The government will also emphasise the suppression of copycat goods, which have created problems not only for foreign copyright owners, but also for Thais, she added.

Thailand remains on the PWL as what the United States Trade Representative (USTR) designates a “weak country” in terms of protecting IP rights (IPR), after its latest review – conducted under its “Special 301 Report” measure – of the adequacy and effectiveness of IP protection by US trade partners.

The report was released on Thursday night.

Thailand was downgraded to the PWL in 2007.

Apiradi said she was not surprised that Thailand would be on the PWL for another year, as the US was still concerned about law enforcement.

She acknowledged that although the Thai government in cooperation with the private sector had tried hard to increase IPR protection and suppress violations, it had not yet fulfilled the US requirements.

In the “Special 301 Report” this year, 11 countries are listed on the PWL. Besides Thailand, they are Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Russia, Ukraine and Venezuela.

Two countries have been upgraded from PWL to Watch List status – Pakistan and Ecuador.

Other countries on the Watch List are Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Greece, Guatemala, Jamaica, Lebanon, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Switzerland, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

The US said it welcomed Thailand’s stated desire to improve IPR protection and enforcement, including recent remarks by the prime minister acknowledging the importance of respecting such rights and the role they play in making the Thai economy competitive.

However, Washington said IPR did not seem to be a top priority for Thai law enforcement, and there had been limited improvement of poor coordination among government entities despite the launch of the National IP Centre of Enforcement in 2013.

The US therefore urges Thailand to do more to prioritise IPR enforcement and to address long-standing organisational challenges, the USTR said.

The Thai government took several legislative steps in 2014, including an amendment to the Customs Act that provides customs officers with ex officio authority to suspend and seize illegal goods in transit, as well as copyright-law amendments to address unauthorised camcording of movies.

However, the government in drafting several of the Copyright Act amendments failed to give weight to concerns expressed by foreign governments and industry on prior drafts of the law, such as omitting a much-needed landlord-liability provision, the USTR said.

Another Copyright Act amendment, introducing an option for rights holders to obtain a court order to force online service providers to take down infringing content, has resulted in a lack of clarity in the operation of the notice-and-takedown procedures, it added.

Rights holders also express concerns regarding pending legislation imposing content-quota restrictions and the unintended effects of data-security and cybersecurity laws, Washington said, adding that it will be critical for Thai authorities to engage closely with foreign governments and 38 industries as this and other legislation takes shape.

Other concerns highlighted in the report include a backlog in pending patent applications, widespread use of unlicensed software in both the public and private sectors, growing Internet-based copyright piracy, rampant trademark counterfeiting, lengthy civil IPR proceedings and low civil damages, and extensive cable and satellite signal theft.

The US continues to encourage Thailand to provide an effective system for protecting against the unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorised disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products.

The goal is for the hub to support the ecosystem for the country’s start-ups.

Permanent secretary Somchai Sujjapongse said the government aimed to make Thailand the start-up creation centre for the region and, to accelerate progress towards achieving this vision, it had set up a National Start-up Committee, as well as a venture-capital fund with initial funding of Bt3 billion.

Somchai is chairman of the committee, while the Vayupak Fund and Krungthai Bank are in charge of the fund.

Start-ups will also be exempted from income tax for their first five years in operation, he said.

Even though Thailand has commenced a start-up project later than those established in neighbouring countries, the government believes things will now move rapidly because government agencies are jointly giving assistance to the start-up sector, he said.

However, he acknowledged that the creation of start-ups came with high risk and required careful consideration at every stage, as the experience overseas was for only 3-10 per cent of start-ups to survive.

The private sector and universities have run start-up projects before, but the government considers that it should now be the centralised body of knowledge for the sector, as well as the core bio-space to make room for creativity and innovative ideas, the permanent secretary explained.

The National Start-up Committee will act as the accelerator to push those ideas through to the business-model stage, while the venture-capital fund will assist start-ups that have insufficient capital to move forward, he added.

The Creative Innovation Hub, which will be located in the former building of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, is expected to create 10,000 start-ups in the next five to 10 years.

Mongkol Leelatham, president of SME Bank, said the Creative Innovation Hub would initially focus on start-ups in the biotech and food sectors as part of the new S-curve in the Thai economy.

Apart from being the part of the ecosystem, SME Bank will also launch a new lending scheme with the lowest possible interest rate for the first five years for start-up SMEs, he said.

On the second day of “Startup Thailand 2016”, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said that coupled with the government’s attempt to make start-ups a new engine of growth through such programmes as an “innopolis” scheme, the economy’s outlook was definitely bright.

“There are positive signs of economic recovery,” he said, pointing to the tourist numbers and exports in the first quarter.

The bright outlook was assured by the visit by AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes yesterday, the deputy PM said. During his meeting with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Somkid, he floated the idea of setting up an IHQ in Thailand, which is touted as the true gateway of Asean tourism.

Fernandes envisaged the consolidation of subsidiaries in the region and listing the consolidated company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, or seeking a dual listing in both Malaysia and Thailand.

He also proposed the creation of a regional airport for low-cost airlines in Thailand, and said AirAsia was ready to work with other carriers in Thailand to connect Asean cities and bring passengers to this country.

Somkid, who will preside over Huawei’s HQ opening next month, said more were coming. “If Thailand does not do anything that harms itself, the future will be bright.”

Given the gradual decline in economic growth, Somkid acknowledged that Thailand needed innovation to drive growth. Showing support to start-ups, he urged them to leverage Thailand’s strengths, particularly in the agricultural sector that involves about 30 million people.

Not just IT-based

These start-ups “should not be just IT-based. Having nothing like Thailand, Singapore and South Korea have to promote IT-based companies,” he said.

Somkid yesterday launched the idea of an “innopolis” scheme to boost innovation in different economic sectors such as automobiles and digital products. Backing the drive would be the government’s new investment in information technology. He envisaged a new graduate involving himself in an agricultural project and selling products globally through an e-commerce site.

To encourage investment that will transform the Thai agricultural sector, he said the first innopolis would focus on food. It will involve about eight large food companies and universities that have expertise in food technology.

“Our purpose is to grow innovation from collaboration, the same way that Silicon Valley grows,” he said. “The government can’t make this happen single-handedly, nor the private sector.”