After being recently reappointed executive director of the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (Nectec), Chai Wutiwiwatchai has vowed to usher in a national strategic plan for artificial intelligence (AI) usage and explore new tech frontiers, such as terahertz, quantum computing and the metaverse, to drive the country forward.
"Our mission is to build upstream digital technology as a core foundation for the country," Mr Chai, who was originally appointed Nectec executive director in 2018, told the Bangkok Post.
His position is for a four-year term.
Nectec is a state organisation responsible for undertaking, supporting and promoting research and development (R&D) of electronics and computer technologies.
Mr Chai was the first Nectec executive director who came from the top job at Nectec's research unit, and not from the office of deputy executive director.
He said Nectec is working with the Office of the National Digital Economy and Society Commission to put forth the national AI strategy plan, which is expected to be tabled at a cabinet meeting by April.
The plan covers AI usage for the tourism, medical and agricultural sectors.
"After the plan is approved by the cabinet, Nectec will join forces with multiple stakeholders to follow through on visions of this AI plan for the country's economic development, such as reducing poverty and levelling up people's quality of life and inclusion," said Mr Chai.
FOUR DEVELOPMENT FIELDS
The AI plan consists of four areas.
The first is to develop hard and soft infrastructure, covering high-performance computing, AI service platforms, government cloud and AI ethics. The second is to create 30,000 AI engineers within six years.
The third area concerns R&D for AI, such as the further development of the "AI for Thai" Thai AI service platform.
AI For Thai can be developed to analyse rice leaf images for plant disease in the farming sector and medical diagnosis for the healthcare sector. It can be developed as "AI for PA", or AI for performance audit to support the work of the State Audit Office.
The fourth area involves the use of AI to power startups through collaboration with the National Innovation Agency, with priorities in health, food and agriculture, government services and digital solution fields.
According to Mr Chai, AI can be used to support the work of the Revenue Department, analyse policy outcomes, and evaluate projects.
NEW TECH FRONTIERS
Nectec, he said, will gear up for new tech frontiers, such as terahertz technology, which could replace X-rays, as well as quantum computing, the advanced tech that can break encryption.
"We are rearranging our research in augmented reality and virtual reality and brain interface to capitalise on the metaverse," Mr Chai said.
The agency will continue to support open innovation, which can be developed further by researchers, such as precision farming tech. It also provides some selected open data for public usage, to develop new use cases.
In Mr Chai's first term, Nectec had three spin-off startups which capitalised on Nectec's technology.
"In my second term I will measure the impact of our work, down to the end users," Mr Chai said, adding that Nectec wants to see revenue generated from its research to make the organisation sustainable.
PRIORITY TASKS
Mr Chai said Nectec's priority in the first year of his second term is to level up the organisation's internal strength, analyse the country's challenges and find solutions, as well as collaborate with other organisations for business development.
The agency will concentrate on service mind and listen to demands that could help address the country's problems and pain points.
"We need to bring our intelligence and creativity to produce technology to deal with urgent, concerning situations," said Mr Chai.
For instance, Nectec worked with the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, and the Thai Red Cross to develop a vaccine registration system for immigrants and platforms for home isolation and telehealth.
According to Mr Chai, cybersecurity is another important area, particularly with the Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing.
He said that in his first term the Sustainable Manufacturing Centre (SMC) was established in the Eastern Economic Corridor area to help factories digitally transform, with technology transferring to more than 2,000 employees of 19 factories while creating an economic impact of 4.6 billion baht.
SMC also supports energy optimisation solutions for businesses, in line with the country's promotion of the bio-, circular and green (BCG) economic model.
TECH ADOPTION
Mr Chai said that in his first term, great success was seen in 15-17 pieces of Nectec's tech research a year, based on eight tech research targets: data analytics; precision farming; smart industry; sensor and system; Thai AI service; smart city; innovation education; and digital wellness.
In his second term, one or two pieces of markedly outstanding research can be expected, he said. They can cater to the public interest and address the country's problems.
"We will evaluate our work, not just for the private sector's usage or commercial purposes, but look into how well end-users make use of our research work," said Mr Chai.
For example, Nectec has developed "KidBright", an educational IoT development board, to support tech learning amongst children. Nectec looks into how students learn from it.
Nectec's innovation has had an economic impact on Thailand, Mr Chai said. Over the past four years it created 10 billion baht in economic impact per year.
NEW GEN BOOST
According to Mr Chai, Nectec can serve as a major link for tech development for all stakeholders.
During the critical pandemic period, the organisation sought to collaborate with relevant parties to get the work done within a short time of only two months.
Nectec's role is to support scientific facts and evidence, and to ensure that the best solutions are reached in the public interest, amid an array of conflicting opinions.
Mr Chai said Nectec aims to attract new generations and skills to support the work of the organisation through either contractual or freelancing means to reduce the generation gap, as its employees are 43 years old on average. Nectec has 500 employees, including 300 researchers.
