Blood-sampling gadget wins Imagine Cup Thailand
A team from King Monkut’s University of Technology Thonburi has won the Microsoft-sponsored Imagine Cup Thailand competition with a portable “Internet of Things” device that analyses blood samples.
Team Welse was declared the winner among seven teams shortlisted from more than 100 submissions nationwide. Its invention is able to carry out remote clinical lab tests on blood.
Team Welse will receive a trophy from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and represent Thailand in the inaugural Imagine Cup Southeast Asia in the Philippines on April 24. There it will compete against teams from nine other countries for a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to the world finals in July in Seattle, Washington – Microsoft’s home base. The winning team there earns $100,000 in cash as well as the Imagine Cup.
Siriporn Pajharawat, director of Microsoft Thailand’s DX Group (Developer Experience and Platform Evangelism), said this year’s 15th-anniversary Imagine Cup Thailand had “Students in STEM” as its theme, emphasising the use of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to foster critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills. All of this is essential if the government’s “Thailand 4.0” ambition is to be a success, he said.
The parameters for Imagine Cup 2017 required “deep technology” to be integrated in devices and applications with the potential for practical implementation, Siriporn said.
Thailand is entering what is widely referred to as the “fourth industrial revolution”, during which new materials are being developed and breakthroughs in genetic engineering and digital technology are occurring at a rapid rate.
Science and Technology Minister Atchaka Sibunruang has said that developing STEM skills among Thai youth is important to the country.