Growing up in a family of three sons, the middle child rarely plans what he wants to be when he grows up; he just keeps studying. Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn's parents instilled him with a sense of gratitude, self-reliance and the ability to take care of a family.
The social environment in Mr Sarun's childhood was not as competitive as today's, so he did not take his future that seriously.
"I just followed my older brother and his friends, finished Matthayom 3, then went to high school studying science, preparing for the entrance exam," says Mr Sarun, 43, the executive director of the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (Nectec).
The most popular faculties for science students back then were medicine and engineering. The smart boy only knew that he did not like medicine, so he opted for engineering. And electrical engineering was the field that he chose.
Mr Sarun had no plans to work in a research lab. The honours student started his career as an assistant researcher at the electro-optics laboratory of Nectec, where the lab chief offered him an option that he could shift to another lab if this one did not suit him. While working there, Mr Sarun had a chance to create computer-generated holograms and collaborate in the design of a handheld barcode reader.
At the time, holograms and barcode readers were new technologies. Mr Sarun was passionate about optical fibre, which was barely known two decades ago but today is embedded in all manner of electronic gadgets, LCD displays, QR code readers and digital cameras.
Mr Sarun got his start in optical science while studying at the University of Central Florida.
Barcode readers use emitted light to transmit a 2D image code. Mr Sarun found the interplay between light and physical media fascinating, and the more he studied and did research, the more he enjoyed working in the lab.
"The key is that we have to have fun with what we are doing," he says. "While I was working in the lab, I truly comprehended that everything is interconnected, the electrical engineering and optical fibre, all can be correlated."
Mr Sarun was a member of a research team that created a hologram technology for prototype manufacturing. The knowledge for making holograms was later transferred to the private sector.
Having worked at the lab for two years, the researcher was granted a government scholarship and then joined the School of Optics and Centre for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers at the University of Central Florida, where he earned his MS and PhD in optical science and engineering and achieved a 4.00 GPA in both degrees.
While studying abroad, the Thai scholar served as one of the three founders of Nuonics Inc, a startup in Florida. As a photonics engineer, he designed and analysed the liquid crystal-based WDM (wavelength division multiplex) processor and MEMS-based variable fibre-optic attenuator, offering the world's first fault-tolerant all-digital fibre-optic attenuator.
Mr Sarun is one of a very few Thai people with expertise in optics and photonics technology, with extensive work in both the research field and real-life business. His experience with a startup community in the US 16 years ago means he's well acquainted with the nature of startups, and supporting homegrown Thai talent and startups is part of his mission.
"Startups have become a global trend, with many countries trying to be like Silicon Valley, but this cannot be duplicated," he says. "For Thailand, we need to focus on innovation and have the knowledge base in the country, while in the meantime we need to reduce our overseas dependence."
At least two startup firms have been spun off from Nectec under Mr Sarun's direction. Nectec gave licence to the researchers involved to scale up the technology for a greater impact.
The MuEye lens, created by researchers in Nectec's photonics technology laboratory, is a high-quality lens with controllable magnifications ranging from 1 to 200 times by varying fabricating temperature and nozzle moving speed. The research team then founded MuISET, the first startup of Nectec, in 2016.
In 2017, D Solution Dot Com became the second one, developing e-meeting solutions for organisations.
This month, NexPie, a platform service for the Internet of Things (IoT), is scheduled to become the third spin-off.
Mr Sarun has brought Nectec closer to the public with "practical research". More research projects have been commercialised as products and services.
But the director humbly points out that all projects are also the result of work by three former directors: Pairash Thajchayapong, the first director who laid the critical legal and policy foundations for science and technology in Thailand; and Thaweesak Koanantakool and Pansak Siriruchatapong, who set up a company and two public organisations -- namely, Internet Thailand, the Electronic Government Agency Public Organisation and the Electronic Transactions Development Agency.
"The three former directors of Nectec set the primary pillars that are significant to the country, and consequently several research projects have become commercialised in the market during my term," Mr Sarun says. "It's all about the timing."
As the present director, Mr Sarun has tried to optimise technology for the country in terms of economy and society, backing it up with knowledge in the forms of publications and intellectual property (IP).
"Thailand must have our own IP," he says, "as the tide of IP overseas has been intensively coming, the country will lose money unless we get prepared by creating our own IP."
As IoT is one of the rising tech trends poised to go mainstream soon, Thailand should have IP in the IoT platform or risk losing competitiveness to other nations.
NexPie, the startup set for a January launch, is an initiative Mr Sarun put all his effort into, as he wants to prepare Thailand for a digital era in which everything is connected.
Addition to IoT, blockchain is another technology most famous for supporting cryptocurrencies, and a phenomenon that Mr Sarun says deserves more attention from Thailand. Although the number of Thais associated with blockchain today is small in scale, the technology will become essential as it is applied to various sectors beyond fintech.
"Blockchain technology can be applied to elections, as it can be used for identification," Mr Sarun says. "Cybersecurity is also another vital issue that Nectec is working on."
He strongly believes that research and development of technology and innovation are significant tools for upgrading to Thailand 4.0, under the concept of propelling the country with a great leap and sustainable development by means of digital innovation, or springboard innovation.
Mr Sarun initiated the "Practical research springboard innovation" concept to produce research that can act as a springboard for all sections of Thailand to achieve breakthroughs by further developing existing research and technology.
Mr Sarun is working hard on five research frameworks for gaining benefits through the use of technology: agriculture; manufacturing; health and medicine; education and lifelong learning; and energy and environment.
His four-year term as Nectec executive director will end this year, but challenges still await him and his team. The most urgent task is the work for poor people around the country that Nectec will do, via collaboration with the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board.
Big data analytics, data integration and related technologies will allow the country to more accurately identify the basic needs of those who demand social welfare, where they are and what problems they may have.
"Some propositions we would never have had the opportunity to experience unless we worked at Nectec, and this is the reason why I chose to work here," Mr Sarun says.
Mr Sarun on the job, at the keyboard. Research at Nectec labs has resulted in two spin-off startups, with a third due this month.
Mr Sarun shows the MuEye lens, a creation of researchers in Nectec's photonics technology lab.