For Immediate Release
IDE Center
UTCC joins hands with MIT and Berkeley to organise IDE Thailand 2017, aiming at creating innovative entrepreneurs, driving Thailand towards Innovation-Driven Economy in response to Thailand 4.0 policy
• Bringing together innovation, technology, and arts in one event and featuring global and Asian innovation-driven entrepreneurs on one stage
Bangkok – The IDE Center – Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship Center, in collaboration with Singha Corporation Co.,Ltd, the Government Lottery Office, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), SME Bank, the Double A Group of Companies, and other allies, organised IDE Thailand 2017, the only event that brings together innovation, technology, and arts entrepreneurs from around the world featuring the Global Social Venture Competition, MIT Enterprise Forum Thailand and the Think Big, Act Small Symposium, from 21-25 February 2017. The innovative platform aims at equipping Thai entrepreneurs with knowledge to drive their innovations to be able to compete in the global market place.
Associate Professor Dr Saowanee Thairungroj, President of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Thailand said that, “The IDE Center is established to promote innovative business models in Thailand, in line with the government’s Thailand 4.0 policy. To meet this paradigm shift, we need to accelerate our innovation-driven entrepreneurs or IDE. The IDE Center can provide training and development programs and help explore and support funding, while grooming our entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, technologies, and business plans to capture regional and global markets.”
“The innovation-driven entrepreneur model from MIT prioritises the creation of an ecosystem that allows for the development of a new breed of entrepreneurs and requires collaboration from 5 key sectors including government, financial, major corporations, entrepreneurs, and education institutes. The University of Thai Chambers of Commerce is joining hands with MIT to help address the challenges facing the industry and bridge connections from all involved parties to create an environment and an ecosystem that helps accelerate a new generation of entrepreneurs that differentiate themselves with breakthrough innovations,” Assoc Prof Dr Saowanee added.
“An innovation-driven entrepreneur must be developed right from the start, from the thinking process to necessary skills. This is the IDE Center’s mission. In addition to the partnership with MIT, the IDE Center and UTCC also receive strong support from the Board of Trade of Thailand, which paves the way for the IDE Accelerator project, comprising two major competitions and a symposium annually. Taking place at the IDE Thailand 2017 from 21-25 February 2017, the MIT Enterprise Forum Thailand Competition helps build connections to technology entrepreneurs and to the communities in which they reside, and the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) – Asian Regional Semifinal leads entrant teams through an experiential learning
process to develop innovative, scalable solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, with the winners participating in the Final in the US. Moreover, the Think Big, Act Small Symposium provides a platform to help spark ideas and creativity for entrepreneurs with keynote speakers from around the globe including Christopher Janney, Jimmy Jia, Randy Komisar and Jiawei Gu, from 24-25 February 2017 at the Millennium Hilton Bangkok. It is a great opportunity to learn directly from renowned innovation-driven entrepreneurs from around the world. Admission is free,” Assoc Prof Dr Saowanee added.
Mr. Isara Vongkusolkit, Chairman of The Thai Chamber of Commerce commented that, “the IDE Thailand 2017 is in line with the Board of Trade of Thailand’s direction to support innovations which are crucial to the development of the Thai economy and the growth of the Thai business sector, as well as the opportunity for Thai entrepreneurs to compete in the global market sustainably with technologies and innovations under the Thailand 4.0 policy. As the world is moving along with Mega Trends, innovations have become an integral part of helping to accelerate growth by adding value to products and services.”
“The Board of Trade of Thailand will drive ‘Products and Services 4.0’ by creating an ecosystem that generates benefits from innovation in five key ways including 1) Providing knowledge by focusing on developing e-commerce entrepreneurs; 2) Using innovations to help add value to products and services; 3) Providing access to financial resources and driving SMEs towards innovation-driven entrepreneurship; 4) Facilitating businesses to conduct innovation research and development; and 5) Creating technological and digital systems for a new generation of businesses to provide infrastructure that grows with the technologies in response to the Thailand 4.0 policy. The integrated synergy will not only help propel an increase in the total value of Thai products and services by 50-100 billion baht annually, or an equivalent of 0.4-0.7 per cent economic growth per annum, but will also contribute to the Thai economy in 2017 to achieve 4.0 per cent growth,” Mr Isara concluded.
The IDE Thailand 2017 will be held from 21-23 February 2017 (9.00-17.00 hrs) at the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce, and from 24-25 February 2017 (9.00-17.30 hrs) at the Millennium Hilton Bangkok. Admission is free. For more information and reservations, please visit http://www.eventpop.me/e/1442-ide-week-thailand-2017.
# # #
Media Queries, please contact | deeristic agency
Sumet Kanchanapan Tel: 095-253-6542 email: sumet.k@deeristic.com
Thanatcha Aunon Tel: 094-669-6442 email: thanatcha.a@deeristic.com
Pimwicha Atomprasangsa Tel: 084-079-0962 email: pimwicha.a@deeristic.com
