The International Roundtable on ICT R&D Collaboration in the ASEAN Region was hosted by NICT on Nov. 20th, 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand. The aim of the roundtable was to encourage strong relationships between NICT and institutions in the ASEAN region and promote the international development of NICT’s research findings and products.
In parallel, the ITU World Telecom 2013 was also held in Bangkok from Nov. 19th to 22nd. The event was an outstanding opportunity for all researchers and institutions working in ICT R&D from around the world to learn and share new trends and technologies with each other. Also, it was a great occasion for all participants of the roundtable to come together.
The roundtable consisted of 10 institutions and 16 executives from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia which have MOUs with NICT, and an additional 4 institutions and 6 executives from Myanmar and Vietnam also joined in the NICT sponsored discussions.
NICT began with a technical tour of its exhibition at the ITU World Telecom 2013 introducing an outline of its ICT R&D, international collaboration strategy, and future plans of ICT R&D to all roundtable participants. This was followed by 7 institutions from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam introducing the ICT R&D outlines and strategies of their institutions and countries. Finally, all participants discussed how to further strengthen international collaboration with one another. This roundtable has deepened understanding of NICT and its relationships with fellow institutions and was a meaningful meeting to form an international collaboration alliance in the Japan and ASEAN region.