Banpu NEXT and MAT mesmerised by winner of 31st J-MAT Award for Smart e-TukTuk

The contest inspired innovative ideas from the young generation.

Banpu NEXT has also unveiled a plan to create a Smart e-TukTuk platform to implement the award-winning idea in order to drive comprehensive EV adoption in response to the future transportation needs of smart cities and low-carbon society.

Electric vehicles are not just a trend. Rather, they are the future of modern mobility in which the world is gearing towards the goal of becoming smart cities and Net-Zero emissions. Banpu NEXT and MAT, therefore, join hands to inspire and encourage young people to broaden their experience and to be aware of the importance of the new approach to transportation.

With that said, Banpu NEXT's "Smart e-TukTuk and service platform" was transformed into a challenge at the 31st J-MAT Award in which entries were submitted by a total of 239 teams from 69 institutions nationwide.

Throughout the contest, young participants had an opportunity to sharpen their critical thinking, planning, marketing strategy, identifying people's pain points and analyzing needs of the target groups as well as professional marketing and budget allocation, risk management and future business plans. The contest allowed them to develop a new business plan as if they were professional entrepreneurs or startup operators.

This year's contest was the first-time university students from various institutes were allowed to participate.

Here they worked as a team and incorporated various expertise and their own potentials into the development of creative New S-curve business plans which cover the first to the last process of the business.

Their ideas were able to executive microtransit transportation that responds to business requirements and pain points as well as promote sustainability value based on ESG principles and the low-carbon society mega trend. The winner's marketing plan will further be implemented for the development of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) for Banpu NEXT in the future.

Based on unanimous results from experienced judges, the "Bannipuni" team which comprised students from Chulalongkorn University, Kasetsart University and Chiang Mai University, brought home the first-prize royal trophy from H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and scholarship of 130,000 baht and a regional award for the northern region.

The "Natasha" team was crowned the first runner-up while also won the Creative Award.

The "Tuk Pui Mui" team, the second runner-up, bagged the Best Problem-Solving On Stage Award and a regional award for Bangkok and neighbouring provinces.

Honourable Mention went to the "Nang TukTuk Laew Hua Perng Tae Tha Pom Dueng Cherng Ah Tid Jai" team, the "TukTukOne" team, the "Banpu Drive to Future" team and the "e-TukTuk Buntuk Leader".

First-prize winner the Bannipuni team, revealed, "This year's competition was a real challenge because Banpu NEXT would like us to go beyond being just a marketer. Therefore, we needed to paint a bigger picture, focusing on the organizational management, mission and vision of Banpu NEXT in order to analyze how best we could respond to the challenge and fix problems at the right spot. The fact that we were given an opportunity to create a marketing plan for Smart e-TukTuk enabled us to expand our horizons with regard to clean energy." 

First runner-up the Natasha team, revealed, " we would like to promote the transportation business so that it is widely recognized and becomes more than just an ordinary service for passengers but allows clean energy to create good experiences and memories for users. This will subsequently gear businesses and the world towards sustainability."