Depa pins hopes on trio of R&D centres

Depa pins hopes on trio of R&D centres

The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa) plans to open and operate three R&D centres in June, comprising an artificial intelligence (AI) lab, an augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) lab and Maker Space, an innovative device design centre.

Depa aims to promote and build scalable startups and serve the government's goal to push Thailand towards becoming a startup hub in Asean.

The three units are expected to help spur projects at the digital park in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

Depa president Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin said the three units will be located at Depa's new office at the Ladprao Hills building that opened in March.

The agency rents all eight floors of the new office and has transferred its staff and all operations from Chaeng Watthana Government Complex.

Mr Nuttapon said the three units will be located on the second floor of Depa's office as part of its Internet of Things (IoT) Institute. The third floor is the government's startup centre.

Depa signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with partners for each development unit.

The development of the AI centre will be done through a partnership with Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology, or Vistec, which is sponsored by PTT Group and located in Rayong's Wangchan Valley.

The area aims to support education and human resources in science and technology.

He said Depa and Vistec are set to enter a partnership agreement this month on joint development of the AI centre at Depa's office.

Depa plans to spend 20 million baht on the centre, while Vistec will spend 30 million baht for initial budget of development.

"The AI centre is expected to help develop businesses and a workforce related to AI ecosystems, as well as innovative products driven by AI tech," Mr Nuttapon said.

For the AR/VR development centre, he said Depa signed a MoU with a leading 3D and AR/VR development company, Unity Technologies, in April. Depa set a budget of 5 million baht through the joint development of AR/VR lab, while Unity will spend 8 million.

The partnership with Unity Technologies will help create software services and digital services for vertical industries, Mr Nuttapon said.

Maker Space can initiate digital innovation development and intellectual property service in collaboration with Depa and private partners.

Depa signed a MoU with a local company, Anitec, for the joint development of innovative product designs. Depa plans to spend 10 million baht, while Anitec will spend 30 million baht on initial development.

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