Thai Innovation List paused over procurement risks

Thai Innovation List additions have been put on hold after the Cabinet paused the assessment and publication of new entries, pending a review of pricing, competition and transparency in government buying, The Nation Thailand reported on 8 November.

The decision was taken on 3 November on a proposal from the Budget Bureau, which asked ministers to examine a programme that has run for more than a decade. The Cabinet instructed the Budget Bureau, the National Innovation Agency and the National Science and Technology Development Agency to stop listing new products while they review eligibility rules, pricing methods, registration criteria, benefits and the effect on businesses.

The Budget Bureau will coordinate that work with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce and other agencies. Findings must go to the Cabinet Secretariat within 60 days of formal notice of the resolution, after which ministers will consider the results.

How the Thai Innovation List was meant to work

The list was created to help products and services developed in Thailand win government contracts. State agencies can buy registered items under set procurement conditions and incentives. The aims include encouraging research, creating demand for domestic inventions and using public purchasing power to help firms grow.

Budget Bureau records cited by The Nation say the scheme began in January 2016. By September 2026 the government had published 115 editions covering 940 innovative products and services. Of those, 396 had reached the end of their registration periods, 26 had gone through post-expiry reviews, and three had been removed, leaving 567 items still registered.

Spending through the programme rose more than 24-fold, from 407.3 million baht in fiscal 2017 to 9.98 billion baht in fiscal 2024. The share of listed innovations that actually received government orders fell over the same period. In fiscal 2017, agencies bought 30 of 81 registered items, or 37.04 percent. By fiscal 2024, purchases covered 183 of 759 registered products and services, or 24.11 percent.

Six procurement concerns behind the pause

The Budget Bureau identified six problems that, in its view, affect fairness, transparency and value for money:

• Unequal access: spending has grown, but orders remain concentrated on a limited set of products.
• Overlapping systems: some listed goods sit beside existing reference prices for medicines, medical equipment catalogues, digital service lists and farm inputs.
• Cost checks: specialised products, contractor manufacturing, imported parts, research and distributor fees make true costs hard to verify.
• Monopoly risk: the National Anti-Corruption Commission and parliamentary committees have flagged preferential treatment and weak monitoring.
• International rules: officials want to test the scheme against OECD and World Trade Organization government-procurement principles on openness and non-discrimination.
• Contractor complaints: some building contracts require listed products that firms which are not authorised distributors say they cannot obtain on time.

Those points do not, by themselves, prove wrongdoing in any single contract. They are the reasons given for reviewing the Thai Innovation List. The Nation reported that the November pause is not a cancellation of the whole scheme. Existing registrations remain in place for now, though businesses are still waiting for clear guidance on benefits and on applications already in the queue.

Earlier reforms and what happens next

The latest resolution follows a 14 October Cabinet decision to tighten registration after complaints that some listed goods were not genuine innovations, or had become ordinary products after first being treated as new. Proposed fixes included clearer definitions of novelty, a bar on treating a packaging change as innovation, less subjective discretion, an appeals process, and public disclosure of applicants before approval.

Responsibility for assessing eligibility moved from NSTDA to NIA on 1 October, while the Budget Bureau kept price checks and official publication. NIA said 102 applications filed with NSTDA before that date are being transferred to the agency. It will watch how the Cabinet resolution is applied and issue further advice to firms.

The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council has also urged stronger tracking. One idea is to link the list to the government’s electronic procurement system, known as e-GP, so officials can see what is actually bought. NESDC also recommended gathering feedback from purchasing agencies and businesses, and reviewing rules so agencies can weigh factors other than the lowest price.

For companies that sell to the state, the pause means new products will not join the register until the review is finished. For taxpayers, the question is whether a tool designed to nurture Thai research has become too narrow in who wins orders. That debate sits alongside other economic policy stories this week, including the government’s planned EV subsidies for pickups and motorcycles, the Thailand OECD membership push, and efforts to deepen the country’s AI supply chain role.

No start date has been given for new listings after the review. Until ministers decide, the verified core is straightforward: new entries on the Thai Innovation List are frozen, the existing register has not been scrapped, and officials have 60 days after notification to explain how Thailand can keep supporting domestic innovation without concentrating public contracts too tightly.

The Cabinet decision and Budget Bureau figures were reported by The Nation Thailand on 8 November.

Photo: The Sappaya-Sapasathan parliament building in Bangkok, where national procurement rules that govern the Thai Innovation List are set (Supanut Arunoprayote via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0).