Thailand's ambassador to U.S. visits Georgia Tech

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) hosted Pisan Manawapat, the Kingdom of Thailand’s ambassador to the United States, who came to the incubator March 24 to learn about its best practices and innovation support programs.

ATDC, the state of Georgia’s technology incubator, is a state-funded program of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The ambassador said he wanted to see ATDC firsthand and learn about its education programming because Thailand is studying ways to bolster its innovation and commercialization efforts and support of its agriculture and related food packaging industries.

“Our strength is agriculture and food, so we are playing up to our strengths,” Manawapat said. “We want to learn from the success of the ATDC because we, too, are committed to supporting small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in Thailand to start their businesses and to commercialize their ideas.”

The ambassador and his aides toured ATDC, met some of the startup companies, and learned about ATDC’s programs and assets, such as the ATDC Design Studio, a space for hardware entrepreneurs to build and refine their prototypes.

Thailand has the Thailand Science Park, the research hub of the National Science and Technology Development Agency. It’s the country’s leading research and development hub and aims to provide the food industry with innovation-led solutions in science and technology.

The ambassador’s tour was designed to give him a look at ATDC’s startup incubation and innovation model and some ways the incubator’s best practices could be incorporated in the food packaging initiative at Thailand Science Park.

“Over the course of three decades, we’ve created a compelling program designed to give Georgia entrepreneurs a world-class incubator experience,” said ATDC General Manager Jen Bonnett, who hosted Manawapat. “Our program is globally recognized and has drawn interest and visitors from Europe, Africa, and Asia who want insight into our proven methodology and how we help startups succeed through leveraging the resource expertise and student talent at Georgia Tech, our relationships with corporate sponsors and partners, and connections to the investment and tech communities.”

About the Advanced Technology Development Center

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a program of the Georgia Institute of Technology, is the state of Georgia’s technology startup incubator. Founded in 1980 by the Georgia General Assembly which funds it each year, ATDC’s mission is to work with entrepreneurs in Georgia to help them learn, launch, scale, and succeed in the creation of viable, disruptive technology companies. Since its founding, ATDC has grown to become one of the longest running and most successful university-affiliated incubators in the United States, with its graduate startup companies raising more nearly $3 billion in investment financing and generating more than $12 billion in revenue in the state of Georgia. To learn more, visit atdc.org.