NSDTA TO FOCUS ON DISASTER RESPONSE
Role of science and technology to be highlighted
The National Science and Technology Agency (NSDTA) will be holding the NSTDA Annual Conference 2012 (NAC 2012) under the theme “S&T Knowledge: Key Effective Disaster Response”, from March 24-28 at Science Park Thailand.
The conference comprises a pre-NAC 2012, a three-day conference, and a five-day exhibition.
The pre-NAC2012 will be on March 23. There will be a presentation on the “Role of Science and Technology in Natural Disaster Mitigation and Recovery” by Prof Maki Kawai, an executive director of RIKEN, a natural sciences research institute in Japan. There will be a panel discussion on “Thailand’s Experience of Mega-flood 2011” in Thai by Dr Royal Chitradon, the director of Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute (HAII), Dr Anond Snidvongs, an executive director of Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), and Prof Sirirurg Songsivilai, an executive director of National Nanotechnology Centre.
The three-day conference from March 26-28 will cover topics such as “Disaster Management: Preparedness, Prevention, Response and Recovery with Collective Intelligence”; “Crisis Management”; “Computer Speech Translation for Humanitarian Relief and Disaster Response”; and “ICT for Climate Change”.
The exhibition will comprise four zones:
Zone 1: An exhibition of the efforts of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Thailand Science and Technology, including IT schemes for disabled people, eDL TV to educate prison inmates, and the role of ICT in learning science and environment.
Zone 2: “S&T Knowledge: Key Effective Ways for Disaster Response” will exhibit innovations to fight floods.
Zone 3: Technology transfer and business matching of the existing research and development of NSTDA.
Zone 4: It will showcase on-going research and development work at NSTDA.
Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi said that NAC2012 will highlight the role of science and technology in natural disaster mitigation and response. It aims to raise awareness on how S&T can address the disaster. At the conference, there are many innovations and research and development showing how ICT and S&T can be applied to help people deal with natural disaster both before, during and after.
NSTDA president Thaweesak Koanatakool said that at NAC 2012 under the theme “S&T Knowledge: Key Effective to Disaster Response” there will be a display of innovative developments and research and developments from four centres – the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre, National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, National Metal and Materials Technology Centre, and National Nanotechnology Centre. The highlights of the exhibition are Thai Science Biodiversity, Flood Sign Application, nCA, and NSack. For more information visit www.nstda.or.th/nac2012.
