Establishing a bioprocess workforce in Thailand to deliver affordable biological medicines through biomanufacturing education and industrial-research integration (TCELS-matching fund)

Due to Thailand’s aging society, it is expected that healthcare expenditure will grow to as high as 1.4 billion THB which is around four times higher than current levels. Although Thailand has potential to develop the health and medical products required to meet this rapidly growing demand the lack of industrial development and workforce creation in the sector has limited productivity. A government report shows the future demand is for more than 17,000 personnel in the medical hub industry and around 2,000 specifically in the field of biological medicines / bioprocess engineering. To help increase access to affordable biological medicines and thereby improve patients’ health and well-being, establishing a biopharmaceutical ecosystem is vital to success. In this proposal we address the establishment of biopharmaceutical ecosystem through:

1. Development of the local industrial bioprocess workforce via reskill/upskill/new skill programmes.
2. Design and delivery of modular biomanufacturing courses which will be developed in collaboration with leading internationally recognised academics and local industry partners.
3. Research and innovation development focused on industrially oriented challenges associated with bioprocess development for biopharmaceutical production.

During the project’s progression, staged assessment of the programme’s content will allow refinement of teaching materials to meet the demands of this rapidly changing sector. The resulting programmes and courses will be used as a learning platform to quickly respond to the high demand for bioprocess engineers by 2025.