Executive Director
National Innovation Agency Thailand

Dr Pun-Arj Chairatana (PAC), the Executive Director of the National Innovation Agency (NIA), Thailand, has been recognised as the country’s pioneer in the fields of foresight and innovation management.

With a comprehensive education background in Physics, Economics, Innovation Management and Technology Foresight, Dr Chairatana engaged with various strategic projects in multiple areas, ranging from academia to national policy development. With decades of experience, he has been involved in several international and national research projects from both private and public sectors, for example, managing “Trendnovation Southeast”, the horizon scanning project under the Searchlight Network of the Rockefeller Foundation, and designing “social innovation system” and policy for the Thai social economy. He was also the Founder and managing director of NOVISCAPE Consulting Group (NCG), the foresight and innovation-specialized company based in Bangkok, and he has been involved with various regional scenario buildings and future exercises since the late 1990s.

Dr Chairatana is the program leader of STARTUP THAILAND, a national startup promotion platform by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Dr Chairatana has brought national awareness of startups to the public and established a national-level policy to make Thailand an open area for a startup not only in Asia region but also for worldwide.