“NIA” grooms up SpaceTech talents welcoming Space Economic Growth

Bangkok 11 August 2021 – The National Innovation Agency of Thailand (Public Organization) or NIA showcases 10 SpaceTech Startups from the Space Economy Startup Development Program – ‘Space Economy: Lifting Off 2021’ in Demo Day. The program aims to groom up talents to become experts in space technology. This includes an opportunity to utilize space technologies to support national development and strengthen the world’s space industry, which is currently worth $50 billion dollars, and it is expected to reach $1 trillion dollars in the next 20 years. Ten selected startups will be strongly supported to be able to develop their own satellites or build SpaceTech related businesses to reduce overseas imports.

Dr. Pun-Arj Chairatana, Executive Director of NIA said, NIA has the policy to support SpaceTech startups through the Space Economy: Lifting Off 2021 program to prepare Thailand for the space economy, which is currently worth more than $50 billion dollars, and in the next 20 years, the value will increase for more than $1 trillion dollars or about ฿33 trillion baht (Source: Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Public Organization) or GISTDA). This program will strengthen the Thai space industry and develop human resources in exploring, understanding, managing, and utilizing space. In addition, NIA sees that the space economy will become a significant engine to drive the economy and increase Thai GDP accordingly. Therefore, NIA has collaborated with both public and private sectors in developing, providing, and using space-related products and services, ranging from

·          Research and development

·          The manufacture and use of space infrastructure such as ground stations

·          Launching vehicles and satellites

·          Space-enabled applications (navigation equipment, satellite phones, meteorological services, etc.)

·          The scientific knowledge generated by such activities

Dr. Pun-arj continued, the Space Economy: Lifting Off 2021 program has selected 10 startup teams, all of which are interesting and have the potential to build the future value creation of the space economy which include “Space Composites,”: Advanced materials for space exploration equipment, “iEMTEK”: Antennas for small satellite communications systems, “NBSPACE”: Small satellites for space exploration, “Irissar”: Space-related radar, equipment, and systems, “Halogen” Atmosphere explorer balloon, “Plus IT Solution”: Space analysis system from satellite images to observe changes in geography and other uses, “Krypton”: Innovative kryptonite project which is an evolution of satellite, “Spacedox”: Air quality analysis system using Lora high-flying balloons and satellite, “Emone”: Orbital speed control technology to reduce the amount of space debris, and “Tripler Adhesive”: Adhesives for space equipment or tools.

Dr. Krithpaka Boonfueng, Deputy Executive Director (Innovation System) of NIA added, the Space Economy: Lifting Off 2021 program is one of the activities in partnership with Thai Space Consortium to drive the space economy by grooming SpaceTech entrepreneurs to play a role and thrive in the space industry. This program has been running since February 2021. NIA has hunted for talented startups that are interested in doing space business in Thailand to join the co-creation incubation and development program to create a concrete space economy in Thailand. As the result, NIA sees interesting technologies created by Thai people. These talent startups have clear opportunities to grow in the space industry. Their products & services could be leveraged and expanded locally and internationally.

For today’s innovative technology and business model pitching, the winner of The Best Startup in Space Economy: Lifting Off 2021 (Judged by judges) goes to “NBSPACE”: Small satellites for space exploration. The first runner-up goes to “Irissar”: Space-related radar, equipment, and systems. The third runner-up goes to “Plus IT Solution”: Space analysis system from satellite images to observe changes in geography and other uses. And The Popular Startup in Space Economy: Lifting Off 2021 (Judged by votes) is “Halogen”: Atmosphere explorer balloon. After this, the startups will continue to work with our partners to expand their business in the space economy sector.

The preceding was a press release, their statements and opinions are their own.