HIC 2023
Thailand
お知らせ

Successfully conducted 2nd HIC in Thailand!

2023.11.30

On November 25, 2023, Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd., conducted the annual Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Thailand at Chulalongkorn University, Engineering building 4. 57 attendees comprising of professors, startup founders, students and researchers attended this event. This year’s HIC Thailand 2023 theme is “Emulsification of Culture and Technology, building Global Hub the Thai Way” which suggest the importance of considering both culture and technology when solving different challenges in the society. 'Emulsification' is an important word to consider in this conference, and describes the importance of bringing different individuals together to solve complex societal issues.

HIC Thailand 2023 started with an opening ceremony, followed by research splash session, poster session, 4 panel sessions and ending with a closing remark. The opening ceremony began with a delivery by Dr. Cheah Hee, this year's HIC Thailand project leader. Next, a welcome speech by Prof. Supot Teachavorasinskun, Dean of Chulalongkorn Engineering, where he talked about the importance of 'Emulsification' to bring different individuals together to solve a common problem.

Dr Cheah Hee, Project Leader of HIC Thailand 2023

Prof. Supot Teachavorasinskun, Dean of Chulalongkorn Engineering

After the opening ceremony, we had the opportunity to look at researchers giving a 1 minute splash presentation to feature their research and to attract the audience to visit their poster booth after the splash presentation. Researchers conveyed their research well to the audience and there were many engaging conversations with the researchers during the poster sessions.

Research Splash participant

Poster presentation

The keynote session began with an inspiring speech from Dr. Inoue Joe, co-founder and Chief Culture Officer of Leave a Nest Group, setting the tone for the 4 panel sessions to come.

Dr Inoue Joe, co-founder and Chief Culture Officer of Leave a Nest Group

Dr Inoue Joe shared on his expertise in health-tech and the importance of research and accumulating knowledge, giving a good overview of the expectations for the upcoming panel sessions.

Thailand, being an attractive destination to both tourism and businesses, is rapidly emerging as a global hub. Despite having such great achievements, Thailand is troubled with societal issues such as an aging population. The keynote session covered some of the challenges that researchers faced in Thailand and some of the possible avenue for creating a Thai global hub. The keynote session was moderated by Dr Yuko Ueno (General manager, Leave a Nest Co., Ltd), with her team of panellist consisting of Dr Pichaya Pattanasatayavong (Asst. Professor, VISTEC) and Dr Keita Ono (Senior VP of Innovation, KX Knowledge Xchange). Through this session, we have perspective from a Thailand University spin-off and a person with multidisciplinary skillsets.

Keynote session panellist

Panel 2 is themed “Culture, Innovation, Collaboration: Thailand’s pillars for a contemporary society.” In this session we aim to address the complex interaction between tradition and innovation. Great innovation adds value, progresses society and solves deep issues but this can sometimes be seen as disrupting the old and upsetting traditional norms. Through this panel session, we hope for listeners to engage with both sides, prompting more innovation with continued consideration of tradition. Panel session 2 was moderated by Dr Kihoko Tokue (Managing Director, Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.), with her team of panellist consisting of Mr Pattana Lee (CEO and Co-founder Blue Oak Co., Ltd.), Dr Thaksaorn Srisangkhajorn (CEO and Co-founder Bencha Arokaya Thai Traditional Medicine Clinic) and Dr Chris Aurand (Open Innovation Leader Thai Union Group PLC).

Session 2 panellist

Panel 3 is themed “Unlocking Thailand’s potential: Digitalising Transportation system through integration.” Having a good transport system is important to build towards a Global Hub. However, Thailand is often faced with traffic congestion issues which can discourage foreign investors in setting up their operations here. In this session, we were looking at other avenues that Thailand can develop, such as leveraging on their natural resources, to overcome this issue. Panel session 3 was moderated by Mr Shohei Maekawa (Director, Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.), with her team of panellist consisting of Dr Nitti Atthi (CEO of FleXARs), Mr Yutaka Nomura (Corporate Advisor of Air Business Club) and Dr Win Trivitayanurak (Lecturer of Chulalongkorn University).

Session 3 panellist

Panel 4 is themed “Beyond the Stars: Unleashing the Potential of Space Technology for a Thriving Planet.” In this session, we will be discussing more about the future development in Thailand. Interest in the space economy have led to programs such as ‘Space Economy: Lifting off 2022’ and the national space master plan 2023-2037. This will be an interesting session to discuss about the challenges Thailand have to overcome to be a global hub in space. Panel session 4 was moderated by Mr Ambrose Chia (Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.), with her team of panellist consisting of Dr Tatpong Tulyananda (Researcher and Lecturer in Mahidol University), Mr Chanapol Tantakosol (CEO and Co-founder of MUU) and Mr Amir Fuhaira bin Ishak (Biotechnologist of Euglena Malaysia).

Session 4 panellist

Finally, the closing remarks was presented by Dr Kihoko Tokue, summarising the engaging discussions during the event. During the event, Leave a Nest members were engaged in a lot of meaningful discussions and we see many possible collaborations that could happen between the participants.

Dr Kihoko Tokue, Managing Director, Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.

This year, we see participants of diverse backgrounds coming together on this HIC platform to solve societal challenges in Thailand. Additionally, the team of panellist were very diverse and provided interesting perspectives through the discussions. Although Leave a Nest will not be coming to Thailand for HIC 2024, we sincerely hope that the participants will have an interdisciplinary mindset in approaching various problems and we hope to see more interesting research in HIC Thailand 2025!

Finally, Leave a Nest would like to thank Chula Engineering for co-hosting this event with us, and our partners (Real Tech Holdings, Mahidol University, Kasetsart University, KMUTT KX, NSTDA) for supporting us in this HIC event. Till then, lets continue to advance science and technology for global happiness.