NIA awards excellence in innovation

The awards' selection committee chairman Kosit Panpiemras said the awards aim to promote and encourage local development of innovative   technologies, which can be leveraged by Thailand to reduce sofware-product imports from the international market.

This year, the agency divided the awards into two categories - National Innovation Awards for Social Contribution and National Innovation Awards for Economic Contribution.

The winner in the National Innovation Awards for Social Contribution category was the Defence Science and Technology Office (DSTO), which developed a Bomb Suit in partnership with United Armor and Cobra International. The bomb suit is an indigenous innovation that provides the wearer enhanced protection from anti-personnel bomb explosions. It is composed of material approved by the DSTO, creating a fragment-prevention capability at par with recognised National Institute of Justice standards of the United States.

DSTO specialist Major General Jirachai Kiattiprajugsa said the protective bomb suit aids counterterrorism missions by the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team in three of Thailand's southern provinces by safeguarding team members' lives as well as property.  This innovation enables Thailand to manufacture fragment-prevention suits domestically, thereby reducing reliance on expensive imports, which are three times more expensive than the locally produced version. In addition, it is an ongoing progression of the fragment-prevention suit study that will eventually result in a commercial production venture in the future.

The first runner-up prize was won by Power Paddler Implemented With a Two-Wheel Tractor project developed by the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute of the Department of Agriculture.

The tractor is a world-class innovation in the field of soil-preparation equipment. The project will help farmers who already have two-wheel tractors to reduce global warming from rice-stubble burning. It will also significantly reduce fuel costs as compared to conventional equipment towed by a two-wheel tractor.

Kosit said the second runner-up award went to Mixed Reality Learning Media, which offers 3D learning media, developed by Larngear Technology.

The technology helps reduce the gap in the quality of teaching between metropolitan cities and rural areas, by simplifying complex content, such as molecular structures, cell metabolism and other physics models, making them easier to understand.

NIA director Supachai Lorlowhakarn said in the National Innovation Awards for Economic Contribution category, Phuket Abalone Farm, which developed a closed system for the production of abalone, was declared the winner.

Phuket Abalone managing director Sitthisak Muangsin said the farm started developing the system, which produces abalone in a closed recirculating water system, six years ago.

As a result, the company has been able to aid the production of a variety of abalone products, such as frozen abalone, abalone in retort pouches, supplements and medical products.

The company expects to produce about 25 tonnes of abalone by the end of the year and reach the 100-tonnes-a-year mark in the next couple of years. It expects the total value of abalone exports to reach Bt100 million a year by 2010.

Supachai said that the first runner-up in this category was the Co-Energy from Biogas project developed by SPM Feed mill. The project is a national innovation in the production of co-energy from biogas obtained from fermentation of waste. The energy serves as an alternative source of electricity and provides warmth to baby animals, such as piglets. It can generate income of more than Bt50 million a year for the domestic market. It also makes more effective use of biogas in farms and reduces energy costs for incubating piglets by about Bt20 million a year.

Meanwhile, the second runner-up award went to True Money, which developed a Touch SIM - an innovation to enhance the capacity and add value to mobile phones.

Finally, NIA gave merit awards to DHA for the Humans and Animals project developed by Maysa Corporation. The project decreases the dependency on expensive imported materials and increases agricultural productivity by more than Bt10 million a year. The company plans to distribute the product for exports worth Bt30 million a year.