As everyone may have known, Thailand has been the world’s largest producer and exporter of natural rubber since 1991. In contrast, domestic consumption in the country is low, compared to production quantity as Thai rubber industry is agricultural-based, concentrating on exporting primary processing products to other countries for industrial purpose.  Consequently, Thailand encounters a problem of price volatility and instability, affecting the livelihood of farmers and the overall economy of the country. One of the best solutions of rubber price stabilization is to increase domestic consumption with innovative rubber products, requiring methods and government mechanism. Business sector and government sector shall utilize innovation and intellectual property as the approaches to drive the growth of rubber industry.

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind. In terms of industry in particular, intellectual property includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs and geographic indications of source, adding value to a product. It involves rubber business in various aspects: company’s logo - a trademark, equipments and machinery, methods of productions, trade secret as well as marketing and research of new technology for organization development and a possibility of joint business. These are the utilizations of intellectual property to enhance competitivity at national and international level, especially prior to the establishment of AEC in 2015. The role of intellectual property management is therefore becoming more and more important.

Intellectual property can contribute to value addition of rubber business if utilizing appropriately with maximum potential. It would bring about a turning point to drive rubber industry growth.

I hope to see the increase of rubber domestic consumption with innovative rubber products through various approaches, one of which is intellectual property.