TECH PLANTER(en)

Judges from 2019 Season

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  Dr Kihoko TokuePresident, Leave a Nest Singapore Pte Ltd.

  profile

  Dr. Tokue is 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 bachelordegree 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 nextgeneration innovators, startups involving business development partners from industry. Her dream is to one day bring a change to a world with advancement of science and technology with true understanding and appreciation for nature.

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  Mr Yoshikazu ueharaManaging Director, Mitsui Chemicals Singapore R&D Centre, Pte Ltd.

  profile

  Mitsui Chemicals Inc. is one of the diversified companies in Japan and providing wide variety of chemicals and polymers globally. It will help build a better future society across five business domains, Mobility, Health Care, Food & Packaging, Next Generation Businesses and Basic Materials. Mr Uehara is charge of new business development from Asia Pacific. He is looking for new business opportunities making best use of open innovation in connection with Mitsui Chemicals' proprietary technologies.

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  Mr Sophian Abdul RahmanCEO and CO-Foundr, Delightex Pte Ltd.

  profile

  Sophian Abdul Rahman is the CEO and co-founder of Delightex Pte Ltd, a research and business development firm that seeks out innovative ways of capturing Delightful Moments. Before heading up Delightex, Sophian had served as the Director of Strategic Planning, Business Development and Mergers & Acquisitions at SGX-listed Cordlife Group Limited, as well as the CEO of its Bursa Malaysia-listed subsidiary Stemlife Berhad. His other experiences include a myriad number of roles in Singapore’s CapitaLand Group and Singapore Government’s Ministry of Trade & Industry agencies. Sophian graduated with a Master of Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College, London.

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  Mr Kazuhiro ObaraForbes JAPAN Official Columnist

  profile

  Kazuhiro Obara dotted emoji in 1st mobile platform, i-mode in Japan and pursue emotional internet platforms in Google, viber, McKinsey. Lives on Bali and works remotely for JP national AI research center and startups. His book on IT principles is the best-seller at Kindle. Kazuhiro also contributes to creative communities in Japan, being a speaker curation director in Slash Asia, partnership director in Unreasonable Japan, sr. advisor in Burning man Japan, Google-side director TED@Tokyo audition.

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  Professor Dr. Ueda TamonChief Advisor and Acting Executive Director of AUN/SEED-Net

  profile

  UEDA Tamon is a Professor at Division of Engineering and Policy for Sustainable Environment, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University. He obtained his Doctor of Engineering from University of Tokyo in 1982. He is currently Technical Council Member of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib), Advisory Committee Chair of International Institute of FRP in Construction (IIFC), Chief Advisor and Acting Executive Director of AUN/SEED-Net (ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network) and Chairman of Association for Civil Engineering Technology of Hokkaido.

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  Dr. Nares DamrongchaiCEO, TCELS

  profile

  Dr. Nares Damrongchai is the Chief Executive Officer of Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences (public organization) dedicated to supporting translational research and fostering the life sciences industry. He is on the Editorial Board of Asian Biotechnology and Development Review, published by RIS, New Delhi. Currently, he is a Co-Chair of the APEC Life Science Innovation Forum From 2005 to present. Dr Damrongchai was the Executive Director of the APEC Center for Technology Foresight, the time during which he conducted a number of international foresight research and training workshops through works with the Rockefeller Foundation, the Institute of Alternative Futures, and Asian Foresight Institute.

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  Mr. Nitchan PiromsawatProject Manager, Robotics AI and Intelligent Solutions, PTT Plc.

  profile

  Currently leading new business establishment at PTT’s Robotics AI and Intelligent Solutions, Nitchan has had considerable experience in evaluating new business opportunities, especially those involving cutting edge technologies. His MBA from Harvard and Nanoengineering degree from CU has also prepared him well for understanding technologies in both the business and technical sides.

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  Mr Patompong LeksomboonTechnology Analyst, SCG

  profile

  Patompong Leksomboon has been working in the field of innovation business and management for the past 7 years at Siam Cement Group (SCG). After graduation from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, he started working at Houston Technology Center, deep-tech accelerator in Texas. In 2017, he joined and managed Sprint which is the first Deep-tech accelerator in Thailand. His passion is to build and encourage the Deep-tech startup ecosystem in Thailand.

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  Mr Vichian SuksoirDeputy Executive Director (Innovaton Development), National Innovation Agency

  profile

  Graduated from Chulalongkorn University with Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering, Mr. Vichian Suksoir is now a Deputy Executive Director in Innovation Development of National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Thailand. He has worked on strategic planning and formulating new financial support mechanisms to promote innovation project for more than 10 years and undertaking a leading role in driving new innovative development in industries, including ethanol production from agricultural waste and lean automation with international collaboration.

Finalists from 2019 season

• PetStem

  Treatment using STEM cells are cheaper than monthly medical checkups and medicine for pets. A special formula to grow STEM cells faster.

• VanCo.

  Using bacteria, convert crude glycerol which is a waste product into to other high value products such as Antibiotics (Vancomycin). Currently, 20g glycerol to 1g Vancomycin. They are able to bump up production by 4-5 times.

• Panacura

  Genome data collecting company that is sequencing Thai people's DNA for the next 5 years. The data they are collecting can be used for different services such as insurance, pharmaceutical and supplements.

• ReadRing

  Handheld device for blind people to read text in real time. Utilises AI to scan and read text/books and print it on a re-printable material in bumps to allow braille reading.

• eX Labs

  Uses AI to analyse chemicals and tell the user the composition of the solution. The technology measures the reaction, fluctuation and the currents of the compounds in the solution reacting with metal compounds at different temperatures.

• Sniff Cancer

  Able to detect stage 3 and 4 cancer at a low cost by using AI to analyse the compounds in a person's breath (ketones). This tech aims to be an early detection of the cancer via non-invasive methods.

• OASIS@KMUTT

  Utilise enzymes to produce food from insects as a source of a healthy protein drink. With a mixture of different enzymatic cocktails, different yields and products can be made from insects.

• Smartroad Tools

  In-built hardware into roads that measures released ultra-frequency waves. This allows data to be measured to give a 2D imagery of the road under the surface. This technology will act as an early warning system for cracks under the road and reduce long term maintenance cost.

• STEAM KMUTT

  Able to shoot rice seed capsules with an accuracy of 1 cm and each capsule has 3 seeds inside with soil.