Cambodian ICT Masterplan 2020 9. ICT Research and Development 9.1. Introduction Except for mobile communication, Cambodia has yet to activate its ICT industry; hence the low R&D demands from the industry. In particular, high-ranking government officials and overall society have low awareness of the importance of R&D. MPTC has no distinctive exclusive R&D department; policy means and support functions for fostering R&D are still inadequate, and public R&D institutions are lacking. R&D investment percentage in the science and technology sector constituted only 0.05% of GDP in 2002, suggesting the scanty budget for R&D. There are only 13 R&D workers and 17 researchers per 1 million people (MOST, 2013). 9.2. Objectives The vision for the Cambodian ICT R&D sector is to boost national competitiveness through ICT R&D. This aims to enhance ICT technological capacity through R&D and to help reinforce national competitiveness. This also seeks to contribute to the development of the ICT industry and economic growth based on national competitiveness strengthened through ICT R&D. The objective of the ICT R&D sector is to secure advanced ICT R&D systems. The three policy directions for achieving the objective are 1) strengthening the ICT R&D system, 2) constructing an efficient ICT R&D management system, and 3) improving capacity of the national ICT R&D center. 9.3 Building-up Governance and Policy for ICT R&D Cambodia’s current R&D environment revealed five factors of difficulties: 1) lack of an R&D mindset: high-ranking government officials and overall research circles lack awareness of the importance of R&D; 2) insufficient R&D systems and policies: the national R&D system is inadequate, and the relevant policy is not clear; 3) lack of HR and cooperation networks in R&D communities: skilled manpower is lacking, and research circle networks are inadequate; 4) lack of R&D facilities for research institutes and the industry: research institutes lack research equipment and materials, and; 5) insufficient funds for R&D activities: the R&D budget is lacking in various areas. 9.3.1 Enhancing ICT R&D Promotion Policy Expecting a change in the ICT R&D propulsion system according to the reshuffling of government organizations. As such, its function of supervising and coordinating ICT R&D projects has been under responsibility of newly established National Institute of Posts, Telecommunications and ICT. The MPTC currently has e-Government-specific R&D functions, and some telecommunication 24