Cybersecurity News in Asia

BEIJING, July 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — John Lee was sworn in as Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Friday morning, as Hong Kong marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China.

Lee took his oath before Chinese President Xi Jinping, who oversaw the swearing-in ceremony.

“I, John Lee, swear that, in the office of Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, will uphold the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, bear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China and serve the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region conscientiously, dutifully, in full accordance with the law, honestly and with integrity, and be held accountable to the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,” said Lee.

The president congratulated Lee on his inauguration after the oath-taking.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1XhKGNBNRE

TMYTEK AiP Mobile Solutions Bring 5G Applications to a New Level

TAIPEI, July 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — TMY Technology, Inc. (TMYTEK), an innovator in 5G/ B5G millimeter-wave prototyping solutions and satellite communications, has joined GSMA, the global organization in unifying the mobile ecosystem. The membership sees TMYTEK joining other big names in the 5G industry such as Cisco, Ericsson, NXP, Qualcomm, etc.

Foreseeing the growth and need for future 5G mmWave antenna, and thoroughly understanding the current pain points of existing testing/ certifying methodologies, TMYTEK created solutions to allow engineers and developers to create, test, and certify at a fraction of the time usually required. By incorporating phased array technologies with advanced antenna-in-package (AiP) technology, TMYTEK brings up the one-stop-shop mmWave design-manufacturing-testing solutions to better implement the communication infrastructure.

With customers across various sectors, TMYTEK’s solution can be found across the globe. TMYTEK created one of the world’s largest SATCOM electronic steering antennas (ESA), a commercial and defense ready 16×16 LTCC ka-band Tx antenna array with 12x12cm^2. In addition, TMYTEK also contributes to mmWave coverage extension solutions. Such as the highly flexible small cell array antenna to SATCOM ground station ESA by utilizing TMYTEK’s 26~29 GHz BBox One, or the smart deployment solution based on electromagnetic redistribution technology that uses diffraction and reflection to direct signals around objects and corners for better coverage and deployment.

“TMYTEK services are crucial in the evolution of the mobile ecosystem. It is great news that TMYTEK, a worldwide leader in providing mmWave solutions has decided to join GSMA to participate in the mmWave Accelerator, and also to gain from the benefits of the GSMA membership”, said Barney Stinton, Head of Membership, GSMA

“Being recognized by GSMA is a great honor for TMYTEK! It means a lot to us as the only start-up company in Taiwan to be a part of the GSMA family. What we do at TMYTEK can have an immediate impact on the 5G mmWave development around the globe. TMYTEK solutions can not only expedite the design and development process, but can also help bring new 5G development perspectives, specification standardizations, and new application possibilities,” said Su-Wei Chang, Founder and President of TMYTEK

About TMYTEK

TMY Technology, Inc. (TMYTEK) is an innovator and a game-changer that delivers the breakthroughs of millimeter-wave solutions in 5G/B5G and satellite communication applications to worldwide clients. As a leading technology developer, TMYTEK enables people’s everyday life with better connectivity from our clients’ products. By transforming the mmWave RF fronted with innovative devices, inventing ready-to-use beamforming development kit, implementing phased arrays with modern Antenna-in-Package (AiP) technology, and redefining the OTA testing methodology, TMYTEK empowers industrial inventions to market faster. Together with our global partners and allies, we make historical firsts and positively impact society. Find out more from tmytek.com

TOKYO, July 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — GA technologies Co., Ltd.  (Headquarters: Minato-Ku, Tokyo; CEO: Ryo Higuchi; Securities Code: 3491) has been selected for the Digital Transformation Stock (DX Stock) 2022 hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry of Japan, and Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Digital Transformation award (here refers to “DX Stock 2022”) is to honor companies that are making efforts in promoting the value and execution of digital transformation in Japan’s society. This standard of selection is by evaluating whether a company has been promoting digital transformation to make a change in its working style and whether it has implemented such value into its service or product. GA technologies by making an effort in both areas has been honored with the title for 3 years consecutively. 

◆ GA technologies has always valued “digital transformation” as one of our business visions

Since the founding of the company in 2013, GA technologies has been incorporating cutting edge technology into its service to realize a digital transformation in the trading process of real estate. The business vision of ours is “To create a world-leading company that impresses people ”. The mindset of bringing technology into our service and to use it to make a change in the traditional real estate industry has never changed since then. We are not only bringing technology into the Company but to our products. We provide our in-house developed SaaS to both real estate agencies and management companies in Japan in the aim of speeding up the digital transformation of the industry.  Within that, we are promoting the concept of a complete online transaction of real estate along with the implementation of the revision of the real estate transaction amendment in May 2022（※1） in the purpose of promoting the DX of the industry. What we are trying to achieve is to spread the idea of a pure online transaction of real estate, the so-called “Internet real estate” transaction（※2)  in Japan. We want to make a change to the old-fashion real estate industry and to contribute to the revitalizing of the industry. GA technologies will also keep dedicating to providing the best customer experience to its customers and realizing the goal of making an open, transparent real estate transaction experience to promote the idea of “PropTech” (real estate property X technology). 

◆ Significant efforts made by GA technologies Groups in promoting DX in the industry

RENOSY: A one-stop online real estate transaction platform

RENOSY is a comprehensive one-stop online platform that covers all aspects of real estate transactions running by GA technologies. The business concept of RENOSY is to “make real estate transaction & asset management easier”. The service combines both online and offline services to provide a seamless customer experience to our users. We are bringing technology into every step of the transaction process starting from searching, consoling, and applying to the after management.

The online dealing rate in the real estate industry in Japan is only 1%（※3） which is fairly lower compared to other industries. A significant result GA technology has achieved is to cut down on the use of paper that would have been required during the application, contracting process by moving the whole process online. We have contributed to save an average of 452 pieces of paper that are required per transaction（※4）. GA technologies is contributing to the better customer experience of our customers and to the sustainability of the environment. 

GA technologies has received high points on the changes the Company has brought to the industry by the utilization of AI, big data to make a change in how the entire real estate industry works. 

ITANDI: The utilization of a real time database 

ITANDI is one of the GA technologies groups companies that focuses on the development and provision of both toB and toC products. ITANDI’s prouct lines include “ITANDI BB＋”: SaaS designed for real estate agencies (rental & lease business).  “ITANDI BB”: SaaS designed for real estate people to share information in real time, and last but not least a toC self-tour house hunting site called “OHEYAGO”. Companies in the industry are benefiting from getting real time data by using our services. We are pushing the speed of DX in the real estate industry through our services by changing how the industry works fundamentally and to provide a transformative customer experience to the public.

The online application recipient service designed by ITANDI helped management companies to manage their tenants’ applications online smoothly, and to cut down an average of 5,000,000 pieces of paper that would have been required annually. （※5）

The honor to be named as the DX Stock 2022, It is a positive affirmation to the hard work that GA technologies has been putting into. The Company brings changes to the industry by the services built and revolutionizes how people deal with real estate transactions.

◆ About us

The business vision for GA technologies has always been “creating a world-leading company that impresses people with the power of technology and innovation.” The Company has been promoting the changes in the real estate industry under such a value. GA technologies group was publicly listed in the growth market (previously known as Mothers market) of Tokyo Stock Exchange 5 years after its establishment in 2013 and has been acquiring 8 other business partners as alliances in 3.5 years after its public listing. The Company established an AI strategy center of its own in 2017, this is also the very first one for companies in the real estate industry. The Company has won the DX award in 2020, 2021 and 2022, 3 years in a row, which is also the only company that has been honored with such title in the “growth market” of Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Company aims to be the pioneer in the PropTech field which takes the lead in Japan. 

◆ About GA technologies 
Company: GA technologies Co., Ltd.
Representative: Ryo Higuchi
URL: https://www.ga-tech.co.jp/en/
Head office: 40F of Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower, Roppongi 3-2-1, Minato District, Tokyo
Year of founding: March 2013
Capital fund: 7,224,816,203 JPY (by March 2022)

What we do:

• Running the RENOSY service, an online, one-stop real estate service platform
• The development and operation of SaaS (BtoB PropTech product lines)

Main sub companies: ITANDI Co.,Ltd, RENOSY PLUS Co., Ltd, Shenjumiausuan Co.,Ltd and 10 other companies

◆ Awards winning history

• Digital transformation Stock (DX stock award) honor: 2020, 2021, 2022; the award is hosted by Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry of Japan and Tokyo Stock Exchange
• FT 1000: High-Growth Companies Asia-Pacific honor: 2020~2022; the award is hosted by Financial Times & Statista for the purpose of recognizing companies with high growth performance located in the Asia-Pacific region
• Ranked No.23 in FT 1000: High-Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2022
• No.1 sales performance in the pre-owned apartments sector in Japan for a consecutive 3 years: 2020~2022; The research was done and published by Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. (TSR)
• Great Place to Work Award (Japan): Ranked in as one of the companies as best workplaces among medium size companies in Japan in 2020. 2021; the award is hosted by Great Place To Work ® Institute Japan

（※1): The amendments of real estate transaction item 2 of clause 34 and other clauses accompanied has been reformed according to the” amendments for the construction and structure of a digitalized society”, clause 17.
（※2）: “Internet real estate” service refers to the business model of completing the whole process of a real estate transaction purely online (including but not limited to searching, meeting, applying and contracting etc.) It is a business model which allows every step of a real estate transaction to be done online smoothly. It is a brand-new business model in the industry along with the electronification of the important matters explanation and other related contract documents based on the law revision in 2022. (The definition was defined by GA technologies in April 2022)
（※3）: The number was calculated based on the percentage of online transaction taken place in RENOSY marketplace business (The 10th season of 2021). The SAM (6.9 trillion Yen)  of the pre-owned apartments with areas larger than 50㎡ was excluded. 
（※4）: Researched by GA technologies （https://resources.ga-tech.co.jp/Release/220422_ga_earthday.pdf）
（※5）: Researched by ITANDI （https://www.itandi.co.jp/press_releases/72）

For this release, please contact below:
Nami (+81-90-1503-9158), Judy, GA technologies Co., Ltd.  MAIL: pr@ga-tech.co.jp

New Market Access Services will also help customers understand and address increasingly complex regulatory requirements worldwide                         

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Granite River Labs (GRL), a global leader in test and certification services and automated test solutions for digital connectivity and charging technologies, has doubled its footprint in Taiwan to meet a surge in demand for wired product evaluation and launch a new portfolio of cutting edge wireless testing services. The organization is also introducing a comprehensive Market Access Services offering designed to help customers address increasingly complex regulatory requirements worldwide.

In addition to being GRL’s largest testing services center, the facility is also its fastest growing, recording strong double-digit year-on-year revenue increases. It is the primary production center for GRL’s industry-leading, automated testing solutions, including the GRL-C2 and C2-EPR USB Power Delivery testers and analyzers, and the GRL-C3 integrated WPC Qi compliance tester.

The enhanced and expanded 2,100 sq/m facility is also the official testing provider for some of the biggest names in the technology industry. GRL Taiwan now hosts the Intel Display Ecosystem Validation Program and provides interoperability testing for products manufactured by Dell’s extensive range of suppliers.

Accelerating wireless product development

As the connectivity revolution continues, developers are increasingly integrating wireless technologies into new products to meet the convenience and mobility expectations of consumers. GRL’s new wireless testing services offering includes:

Enabling next generation connectivity

Since it opened in 2011, GRL’s Taipei facility has achieved numerous firsts, including becoming the world’s first Thunderbolt product certification test center. Today, it offers a comprehensive range of compliance testing services for wired technologies, including USB, USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort™, HDMI™, PCIe®, Thunderbolt™ EV&FV.

GRL is now introducing several new wired connectivity services in Taiwan. They include testing to the new CIO 80 standard, which supports the high-speed, 80 Gbps data rate interfaces used in the next generation of USB/USB4 equipped devices, such as notebooks and desktop computers. Other new offerings include Transmitter (TX) and Receiver (RX) physical layer testing for products using the latest PCIe 5.0 standard and earlier versions of the technology – especially servers where I/O performance and reliability are critical.

Market Access Services streamline business

The new Market Access Services will help GRL customers conform with regulatory requirements in different countries and trade regions. Starting in Taiwan, the services will be rolled out at GRL’s locations in Japan, South Korea, India, Mainland China, the US and Europe to address evolving protocol and telecom requirements worldwide.

“As a long-term partner, GRL has assisted us on many product tests to successfully obtain certifications, including USB, USB Power Delivery, PCI Express, and SATA. Its credibility and professionalism in high-speed signal and charging validation, along with high-quality customer service, helps our products to take the lead in a challenging and competitive market. We are looking forward to GRL’s expansion into new fields, such as wireless testing, to provide more comprehensive high-quality, performance and compatibility testing services,” said Chewei Lin, President of ASMedia Technology Inc.

“The launch of these new wireless testing services will help customers to leverage the performance and market potential of increasingly complex wireless technologies, avoid interoperability issues and accelerate the development of products – especially notebook computers and connected mobile devices,” said Holger Kunz, President of Worldwide Services for Granite River Labs.

“The extra space, sophisticated equipment, new services and experienced personnel in Taiwan will enable GRL to help customers – from ODMs and major market brands to chipset vendors – to resolve interoperability challenges early, easily and cost-efficiently. This expanded presence will also increase customer confidence in GRL as their “go to partner,” said Alan Chuang, General Manager, Greater China for Granite River Labs.

About Granite River Labs, please visit www.graniteriverlabs.com. 

HANGZHOU, China, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES and HKEX: 9999, “NetEase” or the “Company”), one of China’s leading internet and online game services providers, today announced that its board of directors has appointed Ms. Grace Hui Tang as a new independent director, effective as of July 1, 2022. As a result of this appointment, the Company’s board of directors will consist of six members, five of whom are independent and two of whom are female.

Ms. Tang will also serve as the chairperson of the audit, compensation and nominating committees of the board as well as a member of the board’s environmental, social and governance committee. With these appointments and certain other changes to such committees which are effective as of July 1, 2022, the committees will be comprised of the following independent directors:

Audit Committee: Grace Hui Tang (chair), Alice Cheng and Joseph Tong

Compensation Committee: Grace Hui Tang (chair), Alice Cheng and Joseph Tong

Nominating Committee: Grace Hui Tang (chair), Alice Cheng and Joseph Tong

Environmental, Social and Governance Committee: Alice Cheng (chair), Grace Hui Tang and Joseph Tong

Ms. Tang worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers for more than 30 years, including approximately 19 years as an audit partner in Hong Kong and Chinese mainland, until her retirement in 2020. At PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ms. Tang was responsible for the audits of numerous public and private companies in Hong Kong, Chinese mainland and other jurisdictions. Since 2009, she has also been a professor at the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University where she teaches courses on accounting and auditing for the graduate school of the accounting department and on career development. In addition, Ms. Tang serves as an independent director of Textainer Group Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: TGH), Brii Biosciences Ltd. (HKEX: 2137) and Elkem ASA (OSLO: ELK). Ms. Tang received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Utah and an MBA degree from Utah State University.

“We are pleased to have Grace join our board. Her deep expertise in accounting, finance and business management, as well as her well-respected career distinguished by her commitment and diligence, make her the perfect fit for our board and our business,” said Mr. William Ding, CEO and Director of NetEase. “Grace’s onboarding also represents a milestone in our efforts to continue strengthening and diversifying our corporate governance. We appreciate the valuable support from each of our directors and we believe our new board team will continue to guide NetEase to grow and innovate.”

About NetEase, Inc.

As a leading internet technology company based in China, NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES and HKEX: 9999, “NetEase”) provides premium online services centered around innovative and diverse content, community, communication and commerce. NetEase develops and operates some of China’s most popular mobile and PC games. In more recent years, NetEase has expanded into international markets including Japan and North America. In addition to its self-developed game content, NetEase partners with other leading game developers, such as Blizzard Entertainment and Mojang AB (a Microsoft subsidiary), to operate globally renowned games in China. NetEase’s other innovative service offerings include the majority-controlled subsidiaries Youdao (NYSE: DAO), China’s leading technology-focused intelligent learning company, and Cloud Village (HKEX: 9899), also known as NetEase Cloud Music, China’s leading online music content community, as well as Yanxuan, NetEase’s private label e-commerce platform. For more information, please visit: http://ir.netease.com/.  

Contact for Media and Investors:

Margaret Shi 
Email: ir@service.netease.com
Tel: (+86) 571-8985-3378
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NetEase_Global

BEIJING , June 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — SmartX, a modern IT infrastructure innovator, has released the newly upgraded SmartX HCI – a hyperconverged infrastructure product portfolio that includes core software SMTX OS, management platform CloudTower, and HCI appliance SMTX Halo. The upgrades include new features to provide optimized performance, security, and management simplicity. With upgraded SmartX HCI, customers can embrace more efficient IT infrastructure while saving up to 50% on costs.

What’s new:

• Optimized performance: SMTX OS 5.0 leverages boost mode to optimize I/O path in compute virtualization, introduces Intel®️ Optane™️ Persistent Memory into storage engine, and supports ethernet of 25 GbE and above and RDMA in storage network. Compared with SMTX OS 4.0, the cluster performance (4K random access) based on SMTX OS 5.0 has increased by 60%, with IOPS exceeding 1 million on a 3-node cluster. The performance is even higher when combining Intel®️ Optane™️ Persistent Memory in the solution.
• Software-defined network & security: SMXT OS 5.0 adds network & security function with micro-segmentation, providing distributed firewalls to each application or virtual machine by reinforcing east-west traffic security. It also simplifies security management by automating security policy distribution and enabling joint management through CloudTower.
• Intelligent cluster management: CloudTower 2.0 frees IT professionals from operations & maintenance hassles through extra intelligent functions such as cross-cluster VM migration, content library, VM user view, access control and security settings, and interface optimization.

With new upgrades, SmartX HCI has strengthened its 4 critical capabilities:

• Investment on demand and quick resource allocation: Starting from 3 nodes, the capacity could be easily increased by adding nodes/parts. The storage and compute resources could rapidly scale out and be distributed flexibly online.
• Supports multiple hypervisors and hardware: SmartX HCI is compatible with industry-standard x86 servers. Besides its native hypervisor ELF, it supports other hypervisor options including VMware ESXi and Citrix XenServer.
• Supports mission-critical applications: SmartX HCI provides rich high-availability features, end-to-end optimized performance, and security functions. Its stability is proven in production across financial services and other industries.
• Intelligent operations & maintenance with zero downtime: SmartX HCI reduces manual operations and risks with “0-0-1-1” experience, meaning “0” service disruption during scale-out and software and hardware upgrades, “0” manual operation in automatic data recovery and data rebalance after scale-out; “1” click in resource utilization, log collection, and other operations, and “1” interface to manage multiple clusters and data centers.

BEIJING, June 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Luokung Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LKCO) (“Luokung,” “we,” “our” or “us”), a leading spatial-temporal intelligent big data services company and provider of interactive location-based services (“LBS”) and high-definition maps (“HD Maps”) in China, today announced that a business demonstration deck is available on the Investors section of its corporate website, https://www.luokung.com. 

About Luokung Technology Corp.

Luokung Technology Corp. is a leading spatial-temporal intelligent big data services company, as well as a leading provider of LBS and HD Maps for various industries in China. Backed by its proprietary technologies and expertise in HD Maps and multi-sourced intelligent spatial-temporal big data, Luokung has established city-level and industry-level holographic spatial-temporal digital twin systems and actively serves industries including smart transportation (autonomous driving, smart highway and vehicle-road collaboration), natural resource asset management (carbon neutral and environmental protection remote sensing data service), and LBS smart industry applications (mobile Internet LBS, smart travel, smart logistics, new infrastructure, smart cities, emergency rescue, among others). The Company routinely provides important updates on its website: https://www.luokung.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and other statements that are other than statements of historical fact. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “might”, “plan”, “probable”, “potential”, “should”, “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management’s examination and analysis of the existing law, rules and regulations and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you the statement herein will be accurate. As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements.

CONTACT:

The Company:
Mr. Jay Yu
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +86-10-6506-5217
Email: ir@luokung.com

Investor Relations:
Ms. Carolyne Sohn
Vice President
The Equity Group Inc.
Tel: 415-568-2255
Email: csohn@equityny.com

Ms. Alice Zhang
Investor Relations Analyst
The Equity Group Inc.
Tel: 212-836-9610
Email: azhang@equityny.com

MANILA, Philippines, June 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — PLDT reinforces its lead among local carriers with the most number of Philippine-terminating cables as it activates the US-Transpacific Jupiter cable system by July this year, and is expected to further enhance delivery of services and improve customer experience.

The addition of the Jupiter cable system to PLDT’s infrastructure greatly boosts the telco’s extensive fiber network, providing greater capacity in multiple Terabits per second to customers as well as cable diversity to ensure ability to re-route traffic in the event of undersea cable cuts.

“Investments on infrastructure like Jupiter allow PLDT to provide the vital connectivity that powers our digital economy, enabling us to help transform the country into a globally competitive and digitally-empowered nation,” PLDT and Smart FVP and Head of Enterprise Business Group Jojo G. Gendrano said.

“Specifically, this will fortify the Philippines’ position as the next strategic data center hub for global hyperscalers,” Gendrano added.

PLDT’s investment in the Jupiter cable system increases and reinforces the capacities and the resiliency of the telco leader’s existing undersea fiber links, to deliver massive amounts of data traffic going in and out of the country to the US.

Jupiter uses an “open cable model,” which allows consortium members to increase their capacities as needed by investing in technologies that boost data throughput.

Currently the largest among Philippine telcos, Jupiter is anticipated to increase PLDT’s international capacity of 20 Terabit/s to about 60 Terabit/s to US and Japan further establishing its lead, and ready to scale with the growing demands of digital services. These include the delivery of Cloud services, Fintech, and rich media content, which seamlessly complements PLDT’s existing fixed and mobile services.  

The Jupiter Cable system is a joint project of global providers spanning 14,000 kilometers from the US to the Philippines bringing PLDT’s total number of international cabling systems to 17.

Jupiter is key to enhancing PLDT’s cable network resilience, increasing the PLDT Group’s submarine cable route diversity, and helps assure customers with sustained capacity availability in support of their growing demand for data and continuing digital transformation.

Currently, PLDT operates the country’s most extensive international submarine cable network and is set to expand further with the completion of two more major international cable systems namely Asia Direct Cable (ADC), and the APRICOT cable system set to be completed in the next two years.

• NIA – BMA proceeding with four innovation zones in Bangkok – BMA Gov. indicates three key challenges for innovators to bring about true urban transformation

BANGKOK, June 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) or NIA, under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation (MHESI), is hosting the STARTUP X INNOVATION THAILAND EXPO or SITE 2022, as an inspiration for reopening the city with innovation following the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The event will underline the key role of Innovation Cities and opportunities to transform in better directions. The new governor of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has been invited to share his visions of urban development with innovation. BMA has three clear policies of cooperation with NIA: 1) Guiding policies: Cities must not create burdens for later generations, 2) Inclusive: Innovation is not created just to address the issues and needs of a few particular groups, and all issues must be managed fairly, and 3) Fair & Empathy: Innovation must be fair. There is also continuation of policy to support 4 innovation districts under the operation of NIA: Phaet Yothi Innovation Zone (center for national medical and public health services), Punnawithi Innovation Zone (center for digital and lifestyle of young urbanites), Ari Innovation Zone (Ari 2025 Smart City), and Kluay Nam Thai Innovation Zone (innovation built on previous knowledge, creative ideas and digital).     

Dr. Pun-arj Chairatana, Executive Director of the National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) said that over the past two years, the world has not only been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, and vast changes impacting lifestyles, society, and the economy. There have been plenty of other crises challenging us to create new opportunities for Thailand, especially in innovation and tech, which are at the heart of enabling people to cope with situations more quickly. These transformations are also accelerators for which Thailand must prepare when reopening post-COVID. The reopening is reconnecting Thailand with the rest of the world in various enterprises as normal.

“This is the background to organize STARTUP X INNOVATION THAILAND EXPO or SITE 2022 under the main topic of “Innovation City”, under the concept of “Reconnecting the World” in a hybrid of the virtual world in the Metaverse and the physical world. This will show the world that Thailand is a country of innovation with its own distinctive strengths and identity at play in innovating to level up local people’s quality of life. Bangkok is ready to connect with Innovation Cities around the world in strong economic partnerships. Together we will recover and stimulate international economic growth. There is another mission of creating a venue to showcase the potential of “Thai innovation”, creating new inspirations which respond to the challenges of Thai people’s needs, which can be extended in many dimensions. We are also underlining the importance of “Innovation Ambassadors”, a framework of promoting exchange and sharing knowledge between startups, innovation entrepreneurs and large enterprises. This is to build an international network of business and innovation cooperation in ASEAN and with other international partners to support international economic growth, including with member countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC, for whose meeting Thailand is honored to be the host this year.”

Assoc Prof Chadchart Sittipunt, the Governor of Bangkok, disclosed that the challenges of NIA to transform Bangkok into “Innovation City”, were about concretely addressing inequality issues, and not limiting innovation only to technology. BMA has three policy guidelines for joint operations with NIA: 1) Guiding Policies, Cities must not create burdens for later generations, such as waste disposal by landfill which waste disposal that will be a burden in the future. Real problems must be attacked with innovation to solve them, 2) Inclusive, Innovation is not created just to address the issues and needs of a few particular groups, and all issues must be managed fairly, and 3) Fair & Empathy, Innovation must have fairness and understanding, which is not different from innovating for fairness. For instance, many areas of Bangkok face the issue of many people building houses along the banks of canals. Evicting them from that space is not the way to solve the problem. The real solution understands the lives of this group of people and is fair to them. The government must address this issue by building good housing for this group of people to move into. However, it is also important to give people an image to understand the word “innovation” more clearly. Previously, people have been narrowly defining technology, high tech and startups, when in fact, it is not always like this. There are simple innovations in which ideas are the answer to add value for all stakeholders in society. It also helps to improve people’s thinking processes, and gives opportunities for everybody to participate in innovation.

“In the past, when the public made a complaint, it was in the form of paper documents or letters going through a process of actions ordered by rank. Thus it took months to remedy a problem. However, when BMA switched to the “Traffy Fondue” platform, an incredible innovation enabling the public to make complaints, where the responsible district office is notified and takes immediate action. On the first day I became governor, over 20,000 complaints were made, and we have now taken a total of 40,000 complaints. Over 5,000 of these have already been addressed, with no need to wait for orders from the BMA Governor. We can use this data for the appraisal of civil servants’ work. It is a fine example illustrating that simple innovation can change the city overnight and give the civil service more enthusiasm for their work.”

Assoc Prof Dr Chadchart concluded that BMA is ready to fully support the work of NIA as a facilitator in this field, because BMA is not expert in innovation. BMA must rely on the knowledge of pertinent expert agencies such as NIA or the private sector, who have knowledge of both the needs and categories of technology, and are able to think outside the box to design innovation meeting people’s needs. Apart from this, BMA is also ready to support the four Innovation Zones being supported by NIA. When all parties can cooperate, Thailand can become a “Global Innovation City” of the future.