New Chula co-op venture to kick-start local start-ups
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MICROSOFT (Thailand) has joined hands with the faculty of engineering at Chulalongkorn University to help students gain knowledge beyond classrooms to speed up technology learning and be innovative engineers in the near future.
The project's overall aim is to nurture and grow outstanding software innovations for new local businesses.
Through the Chula Engineering Innovation Hub, the partnership will enhance technological breakthroughs and drive socioeconomic development in support of the government's strategic plans for Thailand.
Team PH2, students from computer engineering at Chulalongkorn University, will act as the faculty's innovative engineers. [The team's game "Timelie" recently won its category in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2016 world championship.]
Working through the Chula Engineering Innovation Hub, Microsoft will equip the university's engineering faculty with technological skills as well as access to software and various tools through the Microsoft Imagine programme.
For students who have potential and aspire to become startups, Microsoft will provide access to world-class software, tools, and other useful resources through Microsoft BizSpark, a global initiative that empowers and supports new software developers or startups to kick-start their businesses with confidence.
This partnership is the first cooperation of its kind with the Thai educational sector. With strong collaboration and support from other parties, Microsoft hopes to help nurture and grow outstanding software innovations into new potential businesses.
Microsoft will grant them three years of access to the Microsoft software and Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which is worth up to US$120,000 or Bt4 million per year. Through BizSpark, Microsoft has already supported more than 400 startups in Thailand.
Supot Teachavorasinskun Dean of Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, said the Chula Engineering Innovation Hub's mission was to fully support students, lecturers, university officials and the IT industry in their capacity to innovate in response to the needs of Thai society and the world.
The faculty of engineering at Chulalongkorn is committed to creating an ecosystem to foster skilled innovators in the hope they will become the main driving force for Thailand's economic growth and move the nation forward.
Siriporn Pajharawat, director of Developer Experience & Platform Evangelism (DX) Group, Microsoft Thailand, said the university's faculty of engineering is the company's first partner in this innovation ambition and it intends to expand to other universities and institutes across the nation in the near future.
