[TECH PLANTER THAILAND 2024] Announcement of Judges! 

Leave a Nest is pleased to announce the TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in Thailand 2024 will be happening as following details:

Date: 6th July 2024 (Saturday)

Time: 12:30 hrs – 18:00 hrs (in Thailand local time, +1 for SGT; +2 for JPT)

Venue: Pullman King Power Hotel 8, 2 Rang Nam Alley, Khwaeng Thanon Phaya Thai, Khet Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand

Full schedule: 

During this event, 9  outstanding teams with different categories that stood out from 30 applicants, will be pitching and presenting their ideas and technologies physically in Bangkok, Thailand. TECH PLANTER in Thailand 2024 Demo Day will be a great chance for the Deep Tech start-ups to showcase their work and how closely knitted they are within this ecosystem together with the corporations and government sectors. This event would also provide  teams from Thailand to understand how Japanese companies would like to explore deep tech startups coming from Southeast Asia. The panel of 10 judges from Japan and Thailand would be able to bounce off ideas during the session.

We are honoured to announce the judges for the TECH PLANTER in Thailand 2024 Demo Day as below.

Judges: 

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

Dr. Tokue is the Managing Director of Leave a Nest Singapore and Founder of Leave a Nest Malaysia. She was born in Tokyo but raised in Southeast Asia, studied bachelor degree in America and then moved to Australia for Master and PhD degree carrying out field work. Currently she is creating platform in ASEAN to nurture the next generation innovators, startups involving business development partners from industry. Her dream is to one day bring changes to the world with advancement of science and technology with true understanding and appreciation for nature.

Prof. Dr. Dieter Trau, Founding Director, AIT Entrepreneurship Center, Asian Institute of Technology

Prof Trau holds an engineering degree (Dipl. Ing. FH) from the Aachen University of Applied Science, 1994 in Chemical and Bioengineering and a PhD from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST) 2001 in Chemistry. From 1994 to 1998 he worked as a Research Engineer at the Institute of Bio- and Chemical Sensors in Müenster, Germany. At that time he also started his entrepreneurial activities with the foundation of the biotechnology companies Xantec (1995), 8sens biognostic (2000) in Germany, AYOXXA Pte Ltd (2010), Tip Biosystems Pte Ltd (2014) and E3A Healthcare Pte Ltd (2019) in Singapore. He became a cofounder of AVECRIS Pte Ltd in Singapore in 2018. He was a Research Fellow, Assistant Lecturer/Assistant Professor at HKUST from 2001 to 2004. In 2004 he joined the Division of Bioengineering and the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2013. In July 2019 he was hired as the Dean of Engineering by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) as a full Professor and also took over the role of the Founding Director of the new AIT Entrepreneurship Center. In June 2023 he completed his 4 year tenure as Dean and continues as a full Professor at the Department of Industrial Systems Engineering (ISE) teaching medical engineering and bio-nanotechnology.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Panon Latcharote

Asst. Prof. Dr. Panon Latcharote, Deputy Director, Institute for Technology and Innovation Management (iNT), Mahidol University

Asst. Prof. Dr. Panon Latcharote joined the Faculty of Engineering at Mahidol University, Thailand in 2019. His research focuses on physics-based computer simulations and information technology. Currently, he serves as the Deputy Director of the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management (iNT), Mahidol University. Additionally, he has been a member of the Digital Technology and Communications Management Board at Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited for over two years.
He has also contributed to various committees and advisory roles in Thailand, including the Task Force for Competency Unit and Professional Standards Design in 2023 and as an advisor for the Crime Investigation Efficiency Improvement and Security Enhancement Project in 2021. Furthermore, he has collaborated with the engineering industry to support innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging companies within the engineering technology sectors.

Ms. Pitcharee Keeratithakul, Senior Innovation Developer,National Innovation Agency

Graduated from Stanford University with Master of Science in Environmental and Energy Engineering, Ms. Pitcharee Keeratithakul has been working as Innovation developer of National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand for 5 years. She has been undertaking a facilitating role in international collaborative innovation projects including biochemical industries, alternative energy from agricultural waste, automation in manufacturing industries in Thailand and supporting the promotion of startup business in Thailand in collaboration with international agency and organization by building of startup ecosystem and support mechanism.

Mr Luck Sarayar, Managing Director, TOP Ventures by Thai Oil

Luck founded TOP Ventures in 2018 as a Coporate Venture Capital arm of TOP Group. He took the Managing Director position in 2020 and led the team to invest and build businesses under 3 strategic areas: 1) Industrial Tech, 2) Sustainability Tech and 3) New Energy Tech. He also leads Venture Builder unit of TOP Ventures which is recently established in 2023 to foster partnership and business collaboration with startups. He has extensive experiences in Investment and Business Building from startup to corporate scale. His educational backgrounds include Engineering and Business Administration.

Dr Aya Wada, R&D Director, Delightex Pte. Ltd.

Accomplished scientist with extensive research experience with international collaborators across US, Singapore and Europe in academic biomedical research and cosmetic industry projects. Ph.D in Cell and Developmental Biology from Vanderbilt University, USA.

Mr. Norio Asahara, Regional R&D Director, Ezaki Glico Co. Ltd.

Glico manufactures not only confectionery and ice cream, but also a wide range of food categories such as beverages, dairy products, processed foods and baby milk powder. Mr. ASAHARA is the director of research and development in Glico Asia Pacific. He is looking for new research partners as well as technical support, investment and opportunities for various collaborations such as buying of new ingredients. He is responsible for new business in Asia Pacific.

Ms. Saki Shibayama, Assistant Manager at Business Innovation Group Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.

Ms. Saki Shibayama joined Mitsubishi Electric in 2021 as a new graduate. Engaged in the design and maintenance of IT systems in the IT Solution Business & Business Process Reengineering Group. Undertook operations ranging from assessing specifications sought by customers to making development requests mainly in the social infrastructure area and served as a bridge to the development departments.

In April 2024, she joined the Business Innovation Group’s corporate venture capital “ME Innovation Fund,” in charge of investment operations.

Takes advantage of the knowledge of IT technologies she gained through systems development to play a leading role in examining possible collaboration with potential investments/startups.

Dr. Juthamard Maneepairo, General Manager, Mitsui Chemicals Singapore R&D Centre Pte. Ltd.

Dr. Juthamard Maneepairoj obtained her Ph.D. in Biotechnology and joined Mitsui Chemicals Singapore R&D Centre (MS R&D) as an Assistant Manager in 2023. Before joining MS R&D, she had a 6-year experience working with a start-up in Thailand. Her main responsibilities at MS R&D include searching for innovative technologies and collaborating with universities and start-ups in the Asia Pacific region. With her expertise in microbiology and molecular biology, she effectively applies the outcomes to Mitsui Chemical's Lifecare and Healthcare business domain, strategically tackling important challenges.

Mr. Satoshi Yamamoto, Section Manager, Ricoh Innovation Center in Asia (RICA), Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Mr. Satoshi Yamamoto has been working with Ricoh for about 20 years, and was recently responsible for launching the Ricoh Innovation Center in Asia (RICA) in July 2023 to facilitate collaboration between Ricoh R&D and research institutes and startups in Southeast Asia. Mr. Yamamoto has a background in advanced materials, and has been a technical leader and manager of advanced materials application development and AI-based materials development acceleration. In 2020, Mr. Yamamoto spent two years at the Bureau for Science and Technology Innovation, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, and has been involved in policy making for the innovation ecosystem for Japanese universities. In addition, he has three years of experience in technology planning at Ricoh, specialising in technology strategy development, and plays an important role in Ricoh’s role as a driver of open innovation.

Mr Daiki Kumamoto, Director, UntroD Capital Asia

Daiki Kumamoto is the growth manager of Real Tech Fund as well as the leader of Global Fund, mainly investing in deep-tech startups in Southeast Asia. He invests in startups that bring solutions to care and welfare, serving as a director of aba; developing sensors for excretion detectors for elderly care. For investments in Southeast Asia, he is in charge of NDR Medical, ProfilePrint, Austrianova, Karana and many more.

Before joining Real Tech in 2018, he was the president of the AIESEC, the largest NPO in Japan that commits in supporting young entrepreneurs globally.

He graduated from Keio SFC University with a bachelor in management.

For any inquiries about TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in Thailand, please contact:     

• Mr. Ham Kai Jie, [email protected]