National Instruments targets Myanmar, eyes growth in Asean 

Chandran Nair, NI’s vice president for Asia Pacific, said recently the firm would focus on working with big conglomerates – as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – in Southeast Asia in an effort to bring highly-advanced technology to the region for improving productivity. 
“We work [now] with big companies. At the same time, we really want to deliver the latest tools of innovation to SMEs, as they can truly help develop the intellectual property that can serve an open market. We are making sure to provide them with our platform,” he said. 
As part of its strong commitment to Asean operations, the firm held its annual technical conference, NIDays, in Singapore. It revealed new insights and the latest technology in software and data acquisition, embedded control and monitoring, automated test and radio frequency. More than 300 engineers, scientists and researchers from across the region attended the event. 
“For 40 years, our commitment to empower engineers, scientists and educators with open technology platforms and tools that enable them to innovate more and faster has never waned and this will take us through the next 100 years. It is truly a very exciting time for engineers and scientists, and it is also very exciting for us,” said Nair. 
NI announced the introduction of an early-access technology platform for time-sensitive networking, a hardware and software boost to enable smarter and more flexible testing for the semiconductor, aerospace and automotive industries, as well as system design software LabVIEW 2016, which is used in many industries to drive productivity, achieve higher performance and product quality. 
NIDays is set to continue its route in five Asean cities this year – Penang (October 27), Bangkok (November 11), Manila (November 29), Jakarta (December 1), and Hanoi (December 8). It serves as a platform to honour outstanding engineers and scientists in the region. The event also showcases a variety of technology advancements, evolving platform capabilities and customer innovation for industries including research, semiconductor, defence, and infrastructure.
Matej Krajnc, NI’s managing director for Asean, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, said the firm aimed to equip companies with tools that would enable them to create new markets and compete in non-traditional ways; and innovators and experts to develop solutions that address global challenges and impact the wider communities.
Krajnc committed to foster business expansion in Myanmar, a newly-opened market with huge potential. He said NI has been present in Myanmar for three years now through its partners.
Krajnc hinted that NI would open an office in Myanmar in the future, but did not say exactly when. He could see room there for cooperation in key areas such as education, infrastructure, agriculture, energy, and food processing, which had a big impact on the community as a whole. 
“At the moment, we are taking part in teaching processes and providing tools to better understand the importance of technology. We want to provide students with high-level education and products so they can be more productive and more successful, and then apply that knowledge to their workplace or when they start their own businesses,” he said. 
“I would say platform is the one you should be looking for. We would offer a platform so that engineers get access to the latest technology. We can help them get the products and solutions. And we can also help them with how they can easily integrate into our partnership with a proper ecosystem. Using the platform, we have allowed engineers in Myanmar to elaborate the developed automation system for the country.”
Kranjc said it was an exciting time for a US firm to expand business in Myanmar, thanks to the recent termination of American sanctions.