National Science and Technology Development (NSTDA), Innovation Technology Assistance Program (ITAP) under the Technology Management Center (TMC) has launched 'The New Aged Citizens Project' by supporting prospective SMEs to take on the challenge of aging society with a new business model running on the basis of science, technology, and innovation. One of the SMEs in the incubation is Sooksabuy (Thailand) Co., Ltd. The company was supported to develop the Artificial Intelligent (AI) technology as a virtual architectural consultant software to evaluate and recommend real estate properties that are suitable for the retirees. Sooksabuy platform is a powerful tool to immediately respond to the demand of retired users to match the supply of local developers/homeowners with the international standard of design for the elderly.
Miss Chanaghan Suntayanonta, ITAP Senior Consultant, NSTDA, Head of the Project said that the New Aged Citizens Project is created for the dissemination of information and technology, opening up the opportunity and challenge of an upcoming aging society leading to a creation of business model, medical technology that helps to slow down physical deterioration of human body, and the design that is responding to needs of active elderly users and connecting them to the world via the use of digital technology. To increase the competitiveness of Thai SMEs in the international level, ITAP supports the design creativity and innovation of local business and entrepreneurs in accordance with the Government’s policy of Thailand 4.0. ITAP-NSTDA is working in collaboration with 5 organizations, which are TCDC, FABLAB Thailand, TSRI, INNOTECH Mahidol, and ABLE Lab & Future Living Lab by KMUTT.
“Foreseeing the opportunities to provide sources of high-quality residential properties and supporting facilities that will enhance well-being for senior citizens looking for a living place, Sooksabuy (Thailand) Co., Ltd. is a pioneer in development of the technology for retirement real estate decision making. ITAP-NSTDA has supported them under the New Aged Citizens Project to develop a web-based-platform and research on real estate projects for retirement by collecting physical data of relevant projects in the big cities. The company has developed the web-platform based on the design knowledge of architecture and built environment with the critical evaluation criteria to provide database and assist decision making for senior citizens looking for buying a real estate as their retirement home. They have also learned to build Sooksabuy web architecture for a web application," said Miss Chanaghan, Head of the New Aged Citizens Project, NSTDA.
Miss Suchada Kasemsap, Founder/Architect of Sooksabuy (Thailand) Co., Ltd. informed the starting point that she applied for the ITAP program is that her company has designed a retirement home in Chiang Mai, Thailand. With an experience from the project, she had learned the problems that foreign retirees facing to from choosing the location of the property, deciding on the property, and selecting suitable design and planning to match their requirement. She had an inspiration to turn a conventional architectural consultant to a virtual consultant by developing artificial intelligence (AI) as a virtual architect for a quick evaluation and accurate recommendation to the users. Sooksabuy platform will be able to reach more users of the homeowners/developers as well as retirees, answer to their needs and responding to the international standard requirement for retirement homes. Being in the New Aged Citizens Incubation with the support of the field expert, ISP, and the funding, the initial idea project can become real and commercialized.
“The innovation of Sooksabuy technology has started with the data collection on architectural design of the retirement homes to establish the evaluation parameter. Then, deploying the artificial intelligent (AI) to process the complex data sets. The company expects that https://sooksabuy.co/ will become one of the platforms that is suitable for the up-coming aging market. Especially after COVID-19, we expect that the demand from foreign retirees looking for retirement homes in Thailand will be increased due to the strong medical infrastructure in Thailand that everyone can get accessed to the medical service with an affordable price and a good service mind.”
ITAP ISP, Miss Kalaya Kovidvisith (FABLAB Thailand), also added that the New Aged Citizens Project is an initial stage for Thai entrepreneurs to test their idea and turn them into the prototype for idea validation with the actual users or focus group, so that they can receive the unpredictable feedback of the invention and improve them. Since Thailand is going into an aging society, the project is focused on the products and services that are related to senior lifestyle market. The engagement of the Internet of Things (IoT) will ease on the repetitive working process and increase productivity and efficiency in their business.