On March 28, 2022 at Thailand Science Park, Pathum Thani, the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) received grace from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to preside over the opening ceremony of the NSTDA Annual Conference 2022 (NAC2022) under the concept of Revitalizing Thai Economy through BCG Research and Innovation.
NAC2022 is the 17th NSTDA Annual Conference. The event was held during March 28-31, 2022 through a virtual platform: www.nstda.or.th/nac, and was also attended by the Governor of Pathum Thani Province, The Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Chief Justice of Thanyaburi Provincial Court, Commanding General, Military Circle of the 11th Army Region, Commander of the Provincial Police, Pathum Thani Province, together with the Executives of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, the researchers and staff of NSTDA.
Prof. Dr. Anek Laothamatas, the Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, respectfully informed Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn that the mission of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) is to perform research, development, design, and engineering so that the work is put to use, as well as promote the development of manpower, science and technology infrastructure to increase the country’s competitiveness. NSTDA also aims towards sustainable development by continuously applying its practical research results for the industrial sector, farmers and communities and the general public. In the fiscal year 2021, a summary of NSTDA work is as follows: 738 reseach papers published in international academic journals and 433 intellectual property use, which has created an impact on the country’s economy and society resulting from its utilizatiois 73,692 million baht and the value of the investment in science technology and innovation in the manufacturing and service sectors 25,224 million baht, as well as supporting the master’s and Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral researchers to work with NSTDA is a total of 739 people, and 9,213 farmers benefited from knowledge and innovation.
As for the theme of this year’s annual conference, the Prime Minister had declared that the BCG (Bio-Circular-Green Economy) economy is a national agenda with the goal of the BCG to be one of the important keys that help drive the Thai economy with efficiency and people to have higher incomes under the Strategic Plan for Driving Thailand with the BCG. There are 4 strategic plans, namely, (1) Agriculture and Food, (2) Health and Medicine, (3) Energy, Materials and Biochemicals, and (4) Tourism and Creative Economy. All of which will take advantage of Thailand’s strengths in biodiversity and cultural diversity. NSTDA, which is an agency under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, is another organization that involves in driving the BCG policy with all ministries and agencies.
NSTDA, therefore, has organized this year conference on a virtual platform through www.nstda.or.th/nac by presenting the knowledge of science and technology that promotes the development of the BCG economy to communicate and benefit thoroughly to relevant target groups, such as the academics, entrepreneurs, government and private sector, as well as children and youth, and the general public.
Dr. Narong Sirilertworakul, President of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), had respectfully presented the group of researchers of the 2019 and 2020, the winner of the Thailand Computer Program Development Competition and the 22nd, 23th, and 24th Young Scientist Project Competition, and the winner of the 12th and 13th Thailand Robot Design and Construction Competition to receive a certificate from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn gave a speech to open the NSTDA Annual Conference 2022 (NAC2022) and cut the ribbon to open the exhibition in honor of “Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn with Thai science and technology”, and visited other exhibitions to learn the progress of NSTDA S&T researches. Some noted example under the Princess’s initiative were as follows:
The environmental conservation and rehabilitation project in Mae Sot, Herbs for Healthy Water, KidBright for children with special needs, and Sirindhorn Science Home Field Hospital for People with Disabilities.
Some BCG research highlights were as follows.
- Plant-based eggs: The development of BIOTEC, NSTDA in collaboration with Drop and Pick Group Company Limited developed pasteurized liquid plant-based eggs. This plant-based eggs have similar texture to that of conventional eggs and can be used in a variety of dishes. The product is suitable for vegans and people with egg allergies.
- Rapid strip test for cassava mosaic virus. An immunochromatographic strip test is a tool for controlling the outbreak of the cassava mosaic virus. The test is simple to use and can give a result within 15 minutes, making it suitable for field use. The users can use this test kit by themselves, without having to rely on experts and measuring devices to read results. This will be very useful in screening and monitoring the spread of cassava spotted leaf disease in Thailand, as well as the detection of infection in various procedures of the aseptic seed production process.
- Pseudotyped virus for assessing the COVID-19 vaccine efficacy. The pseudotyped virus designed by BIOTEC, NSTDA has been used to evaluate the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed in Thailand.
- Microneedle technology. Technology has been developed to fabricate microneedle patches consisting of needles with less than a 10-µm tip radius. Microneedles are a painless and less invasive transdermal delivery system of drugs and vaccines.
- BodiiRay P. BodiiRay P (Portable Digital Radiography) is a portable digital chest X-ray machine developed by NSTDA’s Assistive Technology and Medical Devices Center (A-MED). This machine is used for two-dimensional tomography of internal organs. The device is small and easy to move to use in different locations with wireless digital radiation scene portable computer software to manage patient data and store X-ray images, as well as set up and control X-ray imaging, image processing, and digital X-ray display (RadiView Software). The machine can be linked to the hospital’s Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS).
- Low-Protein Natural Rubber Gloves (enR/Prox). Low-protein natural rubber gloves were developed by reducing the total protein content and allergenic protein, and are thus suitable for general users and people with protein intolerance in natural rubber. This development has met the benchmark by helping to enhance the quality of natural rubber glove products to be competitive with synthetic rubber gloves.
- AR/VR technology. The exhibition presents the applications of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in engineering design and developing educational media for new normal learning.
- National Biobank of Thailand (NBT). NBT is one of the organizations of the National Science and Technology Infrastructure (NSTI), was established in 2019 with equipment support from the Big Rock project of the government in 2018 in order to conserve the country’s biological resources. The storage process meets international standards, as well as use science and technology to help maintain a long life of the country’s biological resources, saving costs and labor costs for maintenance, and can be restored when there is a crisis. The biological resources that are stored with NBT always belong to the depositor.
At present, NBT’s recent bioresources collection include plants and microbes from the biodiversity study of mangrove forest and microorganisms collected from caves in Satun UNESCO Geopark. NBT also works with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation on a plant conservation project and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on a seed bank, which is a seed bank where wild plant seeds are collected by people with the most knowledge in the world. This endeavor will support research and conservation of plants in the form of seed banks with international standards.
On this occasion, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn also visited the demonstration of the NBT virtual tour, which was a collaboration between the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University and NBT to create the NBT Virtual Tour with a parallel virtual world of NBT by simulating various labs and sterile areas within the NBT for the general public to visit and learn more through a virtual platform. There was a presentation of the Seed Bank Laboratory that Allows visitors to pick up a replica of the seed on the table together with the presentation of the scientific name information and the source where the seed samples were found, as well as the visitors can also visit the simulation areas of the source of the seed samples.
NAC2022 had been held during March 28-31, 2022 through a virtual platform, consisting of 45 topics of online seminars (webinars), 102 online exhibitions, and open house activities, in which industrialists, partners, and interested investors can learn the technology from NSTDA researchers with a total of 45 laboratories with 60 subjects. Interested parties can join the event (free of charge) through the website: www.nstda.or.th/nac.
