Strategy of natural rubber research and innovation for Thailand 4.0

par Witrasak Smittipong
Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Kasetart University, Thailand

Natural rubber is a very valuable material, a lot of important everyday items are manufactured from rubber. These everyday items include tyres, elastic bands, rubber tubing, latex gloves, anti-vibration products, etc. Thailand has been the World’s leading natural rubber producer for over 20 years. So, the rubber industry is very important for the Thai economy. We exported the natural rubber in raw material forms 86 % and transferred the raw materials into the products just around 14 %. However, the revenue only from the 14 % rubber products was half of the total revenue income (500,000 million Bahts) from rubber industry in 2016. Thus, we would like to employ science, technology and innovation to create the added value in rubber products. These new products are very important for our country ; they will help us to escape from the middle income trap. Situation of natural rubber industry in Thailand 4.0 and trend of industrial rubber research are discussed. This presentation summarizes the strategy of natural rubber research and innovation from global to the Thai visions.