Brain-computer interface (BCI), generative artificial intelligence (AI) and next-generation telehealth are among the 10 technologies projected to have a substantial impact over the next decade, says the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA).
NSTDA president Sukit Limpijumnong gave a speech on the 10 technologies at "APEC BCG Economy Thailand 2022: Tech to Biz", a tech seminar, business pitch session and exhibition held at Centara Grand at Central Plaza Ladprao Bangkok. The two-day event wrapped up yesterday.
"Advanced technologies are developing fast and Thailand needs to catch up with them using its own capabilities," said Mr Sukit.
The 10 technologies were selected by the NSTDA's academic panel as they are expected to have a major impact over the next 5-10 years.
The first concerns BCI that provides a direct communication link between the brain and a computer or other connected device through a sensor that receives brain signals.
BCI can be applied in health and medicine, psychological well-being, gaming and the metaverse, he said.
Brainifit, a tech startup under the NSTDA, has developed game-based brain exercises to improve cognitive performance.
The second involves generative AI, which has now been applied to various tasks. AI can be trained to help sketch pictures of criminals. Generative adversarial network (GAN) techniques can be used to create high resolution images of people's faces and convert aerial photographs into images.
The NSTDA also developed a system called VAJA that can create a synthetic voice from words in the Thai language.
The third concerns connected and autonomous vehicle technologies that can be used to support autonomous driving, driver assistance and telematics. The technology can help boost GDP and save lives.
The fourth concerns long duration storage of energy or grid energy storage systems. This can be applied to renewable energy storage, support increased energy demand and cater to electric vehicles.
The fifth involves solar panel recycling that can cater to green energy and support the circular economy.
By 2050, some 78 million tonnes of solar panels could see their lifetime expire globally, including 400,000 tonnes in Thailand. They can be recycled with materials including aluminium, polymers, plastic or glass and be reused.
The sixth pertains to carbon measurement and analytics. The world is expected to see carbon credit trading worth 500-800 million tonnes of CO2 between 2020 and 2040.
"We need to develop data mining and analytics for calculating carbon footprints," said Mr Sukit.
The seventh involves carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) -- a technique used to capture and make effective use of high concentrations of CO2 emitted by industrial activities.
"CCUS is a technology that can help Thailand achieve net zero emissions," he said.
The eighth concerns next-generation telehealth, supported by AI, the Internet of Things, virtual reality and augmented reality, robotics and wearable devices.
"We see virtual clinics in the US with a system called XRHealth," Mr Sukit said.
The NSTDA has developed the A-MED telehealth system to serve more than one million Covid-19 patients, he said.
The ninth concerns synthetic biology that involves redesigning organisms for useful purposes by engineering them to have new abilities and create high-value substances.
The tenth involves chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, which is a type of treatment that uses immune cells, called T cells, that are genetically altered to enable them to destroy cancer cells more effectively.
Researchers at the NSTDA proceeded with trials on animals and the therapy was found to be able to reduce a tumour by more than 60%, Mr Sukit said.
