Professor Dr. Pimchai Chaiyen

President

Vidyasirimedhi Institute 
of Science and Technology (VISTEC)

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 In a short period of eight years, VISTEC has already made a mark on the academic and research scene in Thailand. Under the leadership of the former President, Professor Dr. Jumras Limtrakul, we have built a beautiful campus, well-equipped labs, and great facilities and infrastructure. We have assembled a talented and dedicated community of faculty, researchers and students. Our research has been published in the world’s top scientific journals. In terms of quality and output of research, we are punching well above our weight. 
 
We are now ready for the next phase in VISTEC’s journey towards becoming a world-recognized frontier science research and innovation hub in Thailand and ASEAN. My top priority as President will be to create an enabling environment and support systems to realize this vision. It’s going to be challenging, and it’s going to be exciting. 
 
As a research and education institution, we will continue to offer excellent training for science and engineering researchers via degree earning programs at Masters and Ph.D. levels, as well as non-degree training to postdoctoral researchers and research assistants. The research eco-system at VISTEC is unique for researchers who wish to turn their discoveries into impactful innovations that benefit industry and society. With focused areas of research, close links to target industries, and support systems to foster entrepreneurship, we offer a great environment for making cutting-edge discoveries and translating them into commercially viable products. 
 
We will continue our emphasis on research excellence in our focus areas of Materials, Energy, Biotechnology and Digital technology. We will strive to further raise our research rankings, e.g. in the Nature Index and CSRankings. These are exciting times for path-breaking discoveries and disruptive technologies, and we want VISTEC to lead the way in Thailand, especially in socially meaningful areas such as climate change, environment and sustainability. The goal of expanding VISTEC’s contribution to society is well-aligned with the vision of our co-founders, whose support over the years has powered some of our most visible programs. We will further develop VISTEC’s unique research-innovation-entrepreneurship ecosystem by redefining KPIs in terms of the following three segments: 
 
1. Advanced Research Institute:
We will continue to strive to make the quality of academics, science and research at VISTEC competitive at the world class level, by offering students and researchers:  
  
Close supervision and hands-on guidance from highly experienced PIs, mentors, senior scientists and engineers on campus. Research support, state-of-the-art facilities, and opportunities to conduct research with the best research groups overseas to accomplish research tasks and experiments. A research environment with close links to industry, and collaboration and with other academic institutes. This will create a clear pathway and opportunities for students and researchers to conduct great research and turn it into successful prototypes, products and businesses. 
 
2. Research and Innovation Hub: 
Will keep growing our relationships with the industry, government and the private sector, to develop collaboration and contract research opportunities. These mutually beneficial programs will have clearly defined, time-bound research plans and specific deliverables to accomplish client aims. The Frontier Research Center (FRC) at VISTEC is highly experienced in facilitating such collaborations, and will continue to guide and expand these. This will offer postdoctoral researchers and research assistants excellent learning opportunities. They will be part of exciting programs and witness their lab research and problem-solving being used in industrial scale-up or adoption for real use. 
 
3. Entrepreneurship Incubation Center: 
We will expect that over the next four years, close to 50% of VISTEC’s research will start feeding into startups and spin-offs. The bridging of laboratory discoveries to commercialization will be coordinated and facilitated by VISTEC’s holding company, VISUP. VISTEC researchers who have proprietary innovations will be able to participate in this academic entrepreneurship and up-skilling program. This facilitation model will speed up the conversion of technologies from laboratory and help establish new, successful businesses. 

The above unique three-segment approach will define and differentiate VISTEC. It will showcase the advanced scientific research capabilities on offer in Thailand. It will demonstrate to industry and society that investing in research is important. It will empower future generations to create an impact by turning their dreams into enterprises, and support Thailand’s goal of moving towards a new, knowledge-based and sustainable economy. This is a challenging but achievable vision. I and my management team will do our best to help realize it. We thank our sponsors, co-sponsors, collaborators and industrial partners for their continuing support and commitment. I invite everyone at VISTEC - faculty, support staff, students, postdoc researchers, and RAs - to embrace this vision, and be a part of it. 

Professor Dr. Pimchai Chaiyen
 August 1, 2023