LAO PDRNATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM

Daejeon University, Korea

M r. T i c k P H E N G S O M BAT H

M S . C h a n m a l a H O M E SA N A

LAO PDR

OUTLINE

MANPOWER

FUND

SUBSYSTEM

CONCLUSION

COUNTRY PROFILE• Full name: Lao People's Democratic Republic • Population: 6 million (UN, 2008) • Capital: Vientiane • Area: 236,800 sq km (91,400 sq miles) • Climate Tropical: rainy season (May to Oct); dry season (Nov to Apr)• Languages: Lao, French (for diplomatic purposes) • Major religion: Buddhism • Life expectancy: - 63 years (men), -66 years (women) (UN) • Literacy Rate : Aged 15 and above : 61% Female, 77% Male, Aged 15 – 24 years :75% Female, 83% Male (2004)• GDP: $5.2 billion (2008)• Per capita income: $765 (2008)

2007/2008 Human Development Report Lao People's Democratic Republic The Human Development Index - going beyond income

HDI

MANPOWER

Higher EducationInstitutions

STAFF QUALIFICATIONS

S&T Insti-tutes Brain Drain

MANPOWER

Consist of:• National University of Laos (NUOL), • Souphanouvong University (SU), • Champasack University (CU), • University of Health Sciences, • 5 Teachers Training Colleges • 83 private higher institutions. • Between 2000/2001 and 2006/2007 the overall enrollment at higher institutions in both • bachelor degree and higher program increased from 22,605 to

76,332 with an increase by nearly 3.5 times.

Higher Education institutions in the Lao PDR

STAFF QUALIFICATIONS IN NUOL

• Doctorate: 49 • Master Degree: 303 • Postgraduate: 24 • Bachelor Degree: 886• Higher Diploma: 126• Others: 598

Graduated Students

Stati sti cs of Enrollment in NUOL

Private Colleges

Summary of Insti tuti ons & Students

STUDENTS IN EACH MAJOR

• STEA Information Technology Centre • Technology Research Institute (TRI)• Environmental Research Institute (ERI)• Research Institute of Science (RIS)• Lao Institute for Renewable Energy (LIRE)

INSTITUTIONS

STEA

NAST

S&T Institutes in LAOS

• Economic development in general is hampered by a serious case of brain drain.

• 2005 World Bank study reported that 37% of educated Laotians lived abroad, putting the country in fifth place for worst brain drain.

Brain Drain

National Budget

Education Budget

Subproject Budget

FDI

FUND

• Revenues: $809.6 million

• Expenditures: $954 million (2008 est.)

• In 2008, donor-funded programs accounted for approximately 8% of GDP and 84% of the government’s capital budget.

• In 2007, the country's foreign debt was estimated at $4.47 billion.

National Budget

• The percentage of investment in higher education in education budget depends on the overall government budget of each year, the economic crisis and inflation.

• The fund growth has been 10,73 % in1996-97; 3,94 % in1997-98; 10,38 % in 1998-99 ; 11,11 % in 1999-2000 and now almost 12%

Educational FUND

Number of subprojects and budget invested by sector

FDI in LAO PDR

SUBSYSTEM

Economic System

Education SystemIndustries

• Laos is a poor country, landlocked country with an inadequate infrastructure and a largely unskilled work force.

• The country's per capita income in 2008 was estimated to be $765.

• Agriculture, mostly subsistence rice farming, dominates the economy, employing an estimated 80% of the population and producing 39.2% of GDP.

• Domestic savings are low, forcing Laos to rely heavily on foreign assistance and concessional loans as investment sources for economic development.

ECONOMIC SYSTEM

NATIONAL GDP

• GDP : $5.2 billion. (2008 est.)• Per capita income : $765. (2008 est.)• GDP growth rate : 4.5%. (2009 est.)• Natural resources: Hydroelectric power, timber, and

minerals.• Agriculture (39.2% of GDP, 2008 est.): • Primary products--glutinous rice, coffee, corn, sugarcane,

vegetables, tobacco, ginger, water buffalo, pigs, cattle, poultry, sweet potatoes, cotton, tea, and peanuts.

GDP GROWTH BY SECTOR

EXPORT

• Services (2008 est.): 26.6% of GDP.• Trade: Exports (2008 est.)--$1.033 billion: • Major Export: gold and copper, electricity,

wood and wood products, garments, coffee and other agricultural products, rattan, and tin.

• Exports Partners: Thailand 32.7%, Vietnam 14.3%, China 5.9%, South Korea 4.8% (2007)

Exports (CONT’D)

IMPORT

• Imports (2008 est.)--$1.278 billion.

• Major imports: fuel, food, consumer, goods, machinery and equipment, vehicles and spare parts.

• Imports partners: Thailand 68.5%, China 9.3%, Vietnam 5.5% (2007)

National Education System• The students aged 1-3 years can go to Creche;

The students aged 4-6 years can go to Kindergarten The students aged 7-11 years can go to Primary school; The students aged 12-14 years can to to Lower secondary school;

The students aged 15-17 years can go to Upper secondary school; • and the student over 17 years (they have already finish their

study at upper secondary school) can possibly continue their further education and various levels,

• For example, at technical education, higher technical education or university.

• Australia• Brunei• ENGLAND• Germany• Japan• Korea• Malaysia• New Zealand• Philippines• Singapore• Thailand• United State of America• Others

Scholarships and International Exchange Program for Lao students

• Most of the ICT specialists in Laos are graduates of foreign country universities, mainly from Australia, France, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand. Very few academic institutions with in the country provide ICT education at the degree level.

• In 1998, NUOL(National University Of Laos PDR) started the first computer science, which leads Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and computer Science,

• In 2002, with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, The department of Electronics of the faculty of Electronics and Engineering at NOUL began an IT bridging course that leads to a Bachelor of Information Technology Application

ICT education

• Industry (34.3% of GDP, 2008 est.): • Primary types: copper, tin, gold, and gypsum

mining; timber, electric power, agricultural processing, construction, garments, cement, tourism.

• Industrial growth rate (2008 est.): 11%.

INDUSTRY

• IP rights have already been acknowledged• 1995:Decree on Trademarks• 2002: Decree on Patents, Petty Patent and Industrial Design, and

in 2004 implementation process started.• IP Law & Regulations status: Government approval in 2005, and

submission to National Assembly 2006. • Draft Decrees : Geographical indicator and protection of new

variety of plants (copy right and related right in the process )• Law IP in provisions: - Penalties for violation - Extends to all areas of intellectual property such as copyright, etc.

Intellectual Property

IP Cooperation• International Treaties :• 1995: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). • 1998: Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial

Property. • 2006: Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) • Regional Cooperation : 1998: ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property (PCT). 2003: EC-ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Co-operation

Programme ( ECAP II Project started 2005) • Bilateral Cooperation : Vietnam( 1993 ), Thailand ( 1994 ),

China ( 2006 ) and Others

Source:EC- ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Co-operation Programme (ECAP II)

• ETL : 3,969 Km OFC, 400 MBS covered all 139 districts, 29,000 PSTN lines with the 39 sites serving in 4 provinces of Laos. ETL also have OFC connecting to China, Thailand and Vietnam.• LAT: 500 KM OFC, 173 MBS covered 88 districts offices, 10,000 PSTN line capacities with 17 sites serving 7 provinces of Laos. LAT also have the optic fiber connecting to Vietnam.• LTC: 1,000 KM OFC, 500 MBS covered all 139 districts, 120,000 PSTN line capacities with 49 sites covered all 16 provinces of Laos. However the LTC have only the microwave and satellite connecting to Thailand. The LTC also operate the IPSTAR service.• TIGO: No OFC, MBS mainly located in provincial capital city. Recently the TIGO has introduced the EDGE system which allowed its mobile customers connect to internet with the capacity 128 Kbps. Also the company is under installation of the Wimax base-stations in Vientiane.• The Sky Telecom has established the CDMA network in Vientiane. The company also has the optic fiber connecting to Thailand.• (ISPs): Planet Online Company have their own network infrastructure. The company has set up the Wireless hotspot in Vientiane and some capital city of the province. The company is using the gateway of ETL and SKY for connection to the Internet Backbone. The Planet also is planning to establish the Wimax base stations in Vientiane and 3 big provinces.

ICT INFRASTUCTURE

ICT and Government Policies

• The increasing acceptance of ICT as a tool to fight poverty, empower the poor, and eliminate gender inequality accord by the government, which can be seen through government policies, plans, strategies, programmes, and projects

• E-Policy, National Science and Technology Policy, E-Government Roadmap and E-Government Project, and etc

ICT UTILIZATION• PSTN Subscribers: 145,857 (145,792 in 2006).• GSM Subscribers: 1,401,419 (776,326 in 2006)• Internet Subscribers: 2820 ADSL subscribers, 198 Internet satellite subscribers (IPSTAR) and 33 lease line subscribers from LTC (ETL, SKY and Planet norecords).• Internet Café: 176 Internet Café Licenses (Estimate: 400 in Vientiane and 600 in the

whole country.• 25 ministries offices have 4984 PCs for 10170 employees which almost 2 government officer per one computer. There are 190 servers, which 16 ministry offices

have set up the Local Area Network and 1832 PCs are having permanently connected to Internet.

• Only 3% or 3910 companies (126,913 companies) using the computer, Only 0.9 companies have the internet access, 0.3% companies having website only 3.8% or 397

NGOs (10434 NGOs) using computer, only 0.9% having internet access and 0.2% having website.

• The Academic institutes are very activities using ICT facilities, especially in the high education institutes, for example the national university of Laos having 1,000 PCS for around 10,000 enrolment student, other technical colleges also having 3 to 5 computer

lab with the capacity 30 PCs per one Lab

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS

Existing of Telecom Network

Shanghai

Thailand

Malaysia

Singapore

Vietnam

• During the 1996-2000 there were only 103 companies, however the number has been increase almost 4 times for the period 2000-2005 were having 513 companies. For the 2006 only there were 196 new companies registered.• 74 companies or 8,4 % invested more then one hundred thousand dollar• There are 3688 employees working in the 872 companies, which occupied 1.1% of the total work force in Laos, which average 4.2 person per one companies• The main business areas are computer reseller (both hardware and software), Training, Consultation (solution and application) and service operators (telecom and internet). • But the current status and the condition of Laos market is not yet welcome the big investment on manufacture and production

ICT INDUSTRIES

• Small size of IT market IT Training to expand pool of Resource Persons

• Lack of local ICT expert manpower• Lack of ICT infrastructure.• Lack of funds To implementation by Govt.:• IT Training to expand pool of Resource Persons• Technical and Financial assistance• Regional and International cooperation.

CONCLUSION

The Development Goal from 2005-2020

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