The National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) (NIA), continues to celebrate the Thai-French innovation year by partnering with the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Public Organization) (GISTDA) and Starburst, a leading French space industry accelerator and investor.
This partnership aims to drive Thailand’s space economy towards the global market by initiating aviation and Spacetech incubator and accelerator program, or F1, while attracting foreign startups to jointly create business value. NIA’s goal is to foster at least 10 new space and aerospace technology startups annually over the next ten years, resulting in over 100 new startups in Thailand’s space industry.
“Space technology is a global trend and is in the interest of many countries around the world. Thailand has identified the space industry as one of the targeted industries that need to be promoted and developed,” said Dr. Pun-Arj Chairatana, Executive Director of NIA. In the past two years, the NIA has successfully fostered 24 new startups in the space economy through the “Space Economy: Lifting Off” program, which serves as a starting point for the country’s space innovation, he said.
Furthermore, we are preparing to expand by accelerating the construction of a space industry supply chain as the ecosystem of the country’s aviation and spacetech industry to encourage in-depth technology applications in collaboration with relevant national and international organizations, he said.
“Currently, Thailand is in the early stages of creating space startups and 2023 is an important year that Thailand and the French Republic have designated as the ‘Thai-French Innovation Year.’ The NIA therefore sees this as a good opportunity for Thailand to attract startups from abroad to accelerate growth and to add business value to prepare for Thailand’s new innovative space economy startups as well as attracting large companies to invest in both Thai and foreign startups. This is similar to the model driving innovation in the food and agriculture industry, such as the SPACE-F and AGrowth projects. It is expected that each year approximately 10 new startups will be produced,” he said.
Dr. Pun-Arj added that as a result of this approach, there is collaboration to develop innovations to drive the Thai space economy between the NIA, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) and Starburst. They will develop the country’s aerospace and aerospace industry ecosystem by extending research and developing the country’s personnel to become experts in space and aerospace technology, creating commercial opportunities and developing startup markets through F1 projects, leading to the development of a “space economy” and the aerospace and aviation industry. This includes creating measures to promote, coordinate and drive policies to utilize in-depth technology in collaboration with relevant agencies both domestically and internationally. The goal is to create an economic value of 300 billion baht in the next 10 years, he said.
Mr. Pakorn Apaphant, Executive Director of the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), said that currently, the Thai government is accelerating aviation and spacetech businesses in Thailand to meet the challenges of the new space economy. This is being achieved through the design and development of satellites, experimentation and research on space exploration, and other innovations through five basic infrastructures that can be further developed by space businesses in Thailand, such as space for better living environment, space to bridge the digital divide, space for government and government for space, ASEAN Hub for new space business and space for future mankind.
These infrastructures will serve as a link for all sectors, including for investment, startups, society, the environment, and policies, to reinforce the fact that space is Thailand’s new economy, rather than being just a distant technology. In this regard, Thailand must start by developing human resources, with the expectation that the new generation will take part in the development of space technology to improve the quality of life for the people and to make everyone believe that the new space economy can really happen in Thailand. Additionally, support from global partners is also important in helping to elevate the new space economy to the world stage, he said.
François Chopard, Founder and CEO of Starburst, said that despite the global pandemic over the past 2-3 years, the aerospace and aviation industry has continued to grow steadily. Many countries have applied space technology to things that are close to them. Currently, there are eight related startups, including unmanned aerial vehicles, low-altitude air transportation systems, supersonic regional aviation, space launch systems, satellites, space exploration and defense systems. The growth of the aerospace and aviation industry takes time because it is not just software development but also involves the development of satellites and equipment sent into space. The important factor is the funding for development, which requires us to accelerate the development of an environment that attracts investors as well, he said.
“Starburst has joined the development of space and aviation innovation in Thailand by applying the experience learned from both the United States and Europe to help develop new startups. This effort will make the goal of creating an environment and taking startups to an international level a reality. This cooperation announcement signifies that Thailand and France will work together to create and develop an incubation center and accelerate growth in the aerospace and aviation innovation sector for Thailand’s space economy to develop and to be visible to the world,” Mr Chopard concluded.
