The SKiVERSE team from Chulalongkorn University won Thailand’s first Sports Metaverse Challenge tournament, bagging prize money of 100,000 baht on Sunday.
Ten teams joined the tournament on Friday at CentralWorld in the Sports Metaverse Challenge #1, part of the “Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022” held by Nation Group. Four teams were chosen to compete in the final round on Sunday.
The team SKiVERSE chose skiing to present the metaverse system that helps athletes to practise in a virtual snowy terrain.
The team’s program can be developed for practical use in Thailand which does not have snow, although Thai skiers competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics in February.
SKiVERSE’s members Lalipat Sirirat, Kanchaporn Kietkhajornrit and Raewadee Lamlertsuk said they would build on this success and further develop their program.
Meanwhile, the BS team came second with their immersive Muay Thai program, receiving 30,000 baht in prize money.
The AS2P came third with a virtual table tennis game, winning 25,000 baht, while the Dragon Boat team were fourth with their dragon boat racing program, and received 20,000 baht.
The judges congratulated all teams for helping pave the way for the first Sport Metaverse Challenge, a tournament designed to find ideas to improve athletes’ potential through the metaverse.
The Nation will continue to support the teams of e-sports developers with networking and other aid as they help lay the foundations for Thailand’s metaverse.
The metaverse is not a “pure virtual world” so services and partners are still needed as a bridge to real life, a digital asset company chief told the “Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022” in Bangkok on Saturday.
Nuttapong Tungdajahirun, CEO Sabuy Digital, a unit of SET-listed Sabuy Technology (SABUY), shed light on how to function between the virtual and real worlds in the topic “Connecting the Metaverse with Reality”.
Just like opening a bank account, users are first verified via the Know Your Customer (KYC) process, he said. Next, to spend money in the metaverse, they have to exchange real-life currency for the cryptocurrency specific to the platform. All transactions in the metaverse are settled with crypto or digital assets.
However, Nuttapong pointed out that the virtual worlds of the metaverse still have their limits.
While users can touch, see and hear objects and products in the metaverse via virtual reality goggles, gloves, etc, they still cannot taste or touch them. So, in the absence of “full immersion”, users will experience a hybrid real-virtual world, he said. In other words, they can earn currency in the metaverse to spend on products like food and beverages in the real world.
Nuttapong said many activities in every metaverse are still connected with the real world. Sabuy Digital is offering infrastructure services that link the two worlds.
He explained that his company was filling this gap and other needs with a digital payment gateway, broker/dealer services, token issuance, and crypto fund management.
Sabuy is also building infrastructure to meet the metaverse demands of both large companies and SME partners. Some SMEs have found difficulties in utilising metaverse technology so the company is offering solutions tailored to their needs.
Nuttapong said Sabuy has more than 100,000 online and offline touchpoints and aimed to have more than 500,000 touchpoints this year where customers could exchange products or complete the KYC process.
He gave the example of the growing virtual sphere of gamification, which is connected to reality via Sabuy’s FIIT token. Users can play games or do virtual exercise to earn the tokens, which they can then exchange for products in the real world.
“Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022” is organised by Nation Group and runs at CentralWorld in Bangkok until Sunday (August 21).
The metaverse has opened a path to the global market for small businesses, a developer told the “Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022” in Bangkok on Saturday.
Phantabat Santimakorn, business development chief for Tree Roots Entertainment Group, said in the new internet era, our real world and the virtual world would blend in a seamless experience. This new hybrid reality would surpass current internet platforms of communication by offering people full sensory interactions, he added.
Speaking at a seminar titled “Bridging Virtual and Physical Experience through the Metaverse”, he said the platform was the next step in the revolution from radio to television to interactive media. And like all these previous steps, the metaverse would spur dramatic changes in people’s behaviour that brought huge new business opportunities.
Tree Roots Entertainment has teamed up with property giant MQDC as Thai businesses make early inroads into the metaverse.
Phantabat noted that the new virtual universe offered multi-sense experiences while also removing barriers between people and businesses.
But he cautioned that the immersive nature of early-stage virtual reality also carried risks and should be balanced with time spent in the non-virtual world.
He also addressed practical uses of the new platform.
“The metaverse can be used to construct prototypes of ideas or things that you want to build [in the real world].”
In a few years, he added, we would see the metaverse develop into far more than just a game. In the meantime, his role is to nurture people’s ideas and dreams by building a community to support creativity on the platform.
He also believes in equality of access to the metaverse, which is why his company is not limiting development to a single interface or device.
He said that although business is about making profit, it should also include long-term targets. In his case, these include providing value to others because “the metaverse is a long game”.
Phantabat noted that the number of metaverse users is still limited as the devices used to access the platform are not widely distributed while public awareness was still low. He advised removing these barriers to boost users.
He added that the metaverse offers young-gen buyers, for example, a new and virtual gateway to the real estate market.
Among other business sectors that will see benefits from the platform are small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs).
Thai SMEs should think about how they can enter the metaverse so they can gain greater access to global market, he said.
Although the virtual platform was still in its infancy, experience from early-adopter companies would help accelerate use of metaverse, Phantabat added.
Parut Penpayap, project director of the MQDC Metaverse, explained the metaverse was similar to the Internet of Places as users of both perform transactions in a certain place with goods or digital assets.
The real estate developer is creating the Translucia metaverse of virtual worlds as a way to engage customers in Thailand and overseas.
So, what is the biggest challenge in creating a metaverse?
Parut identified two things: what to design and how to shape users’ experience.
Right now, MQDC customers can use Translucia as a bridge between the virtual and real worlds, walking around their metaverse property before being handed the keys to its bricks-and-mortar counterpart.
But to make the metaverse sustainable, it would have to encompass the economy and society, not just business, Parut said. Hence it was necessary to integrate the commercial with the social aspect.
Parut cited a study estimating the metaverse market in 2030 will grow to US$8 trillion and another projecting it would extend to every business sector.
He explained that emerging metaverse era would last until 2025 as sectors and businesses trialled the platform.
The advanced metaverse period from 2025 to 2030 would see more complete technologies and business models.
After 2030, the mature metaverse will be a self-sustaining virtual world.
However, he urged companies and SMEs to exploit first-mover advantage by jumping into metaverse business.
“Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022” is organised by Nation Group and runs at CentralWorld in Bangkok until Sunday (August 21).
The dawning metaverse era will boost “people power” by enabling the public to directly participate in politics, three politicians told the “Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022” in Bangkok on Saturday.
Thuntee Sukchotrat, Thai Sang Thai Party’s Digital Transformation chief, explained in a seminar titled “How the Metaverse will Redefine Politics and Governments” that direct democracy is now possible thanks to new technology.
He pointed out that people’s power under representative or indirect democracy was limited to elections as representatives don’t always fulfil their promises.
However, under direct democracy they would have to listen to the people. He gave the recent example of the D-vote website, where the public participated in a parallel no-confidence vote against the government.
Thuntee also mentioned that his party is using augmented reality (AR) technology as a promotion tool. Thai Sang Thai is setting up an office in the metaverse to offer everyone 24-hour access to the party.
More significantly, new technologies could be adapted to increase government sector efficiency with strong policies that boost people’s income and reduce their living costs.
“Political technology will create a politics where people will maximise participation and their power,” he added.
Olarn Weranond, Sarng Anakot Thai Party executive and CEO/co-founder of incubator DurianCorp, said the metaverse will soon become the core of our digital lives.
Just as people now can no longer imagine life without the internet, in 10 years, life without the metaverse will be unthinkable, he predicted.
“Whether we like it or not, the metaverse will come.”
However, he noted that only 0.7 per cent of the Thai government’s annual 3-trillion-baht budget goes to metaverse-related ministries – Digital Economy and Society (MDES), Culture, and Tourism and Sports.
This indicates the government does not understand the importance of the metaverse, Olarn said. He added that less than 3 billion baht of MDES’s 6.8 billion baht budget allocation will be used for metaverse development next year.
He also had advice for people seeking to get to know the metaverse better. All they had to do was use it for their favourite pastimes, such as watching movies, playing video games, or listening to music.
He gave two examples where digital technology has already had a huge impact on politics. The first was the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal blamed for altering the course of the 2016 US presidential election while the second was the 2011 Arab Spring uprising where populations used Twitter to push for change.
Parit Wacharasindhu, Move Forward Party’s communications and policy manager, spoke via video to explain how new tech has potential to improve the country in three ways.
Comparing society and the economy to a cake that we all share, he said advances like the metaverse could be used to:
1. Make the cake bigger, or increase economic growth by using technologies to improve efficiency;
2. Divide it more equally, or reduce inequality in society by giving underprivileged and rural people access to the internet and digital learning;
3. Make it “delicious” by allowing people to help decide the country’s future via direct democracy and voting on policies and plans.
He gave two concrete examples of how the metaverse could improve people’s participation in democracy.
First, it will allow people to watch and get involved in live meetings.
Second, it will give people a better understanding of issues in the public hearings process.
He added that technology could also improve issuance of government documents and licences while combating corruption.
But he cautioned that technological advances should be viewed as a precious tool, not an obstacle. He added that new laws and regulations would be needed to allow people to participate in setting the country’s direction via tools like the metaverse.
This NFT project is enabling Web2.0 online shop owners to move to Web3.0 into the 3D space. The Smilodo Mall project is revolutionizing the way people shop by bringing the shopping mall concept to the Metaverse.
Forget about the boring Web2.0 online shops, and dive into the 3D world powered by the latest Web3.0 technologies. Socialize, get entertained, and enjoy the deep product immersion while you are on your shopping adventure.
In 2021, Smilodo, a Swiss online shop builder launched the first iteration of its eCommerce SaaS Business by providing Web2.0 online shop services. “Now we will bring it to the next level by entering the Metaverse” states the Smilodo founder, CEO of Aeddon Ltd. Claude Steiner.
“We have the business experience, the eCommerce insights, the technological know-how, in short terms ‘the DNA’ to make this vision become a reality” Steiner further points out.
Smilodo already has an operational Metaverse mall prototype that is linked to its existing eCommerce SaaS Business, and the company is launching a closed beta run of its mall in Q4 2022.
To enter this closed beta the community needs to own a Smilodo Community NFT, which is, besides being the entry ticket, the user’s dynamic Avatar.
The community NFT is coming with additional incentives: a 5% discount on all items sold in the mall, and a 10% discount on the Smilodo Mall Space NFT that will be issued later, and early and exclusive access to further events and features.
After the closed beta run, Smilodo will prepare its Smilodo Mall space sale as a second NFT round in 2023.
“You want to be a 3D shop owner? Or sub rent your 3D shop to other shop operators? Here is your chance!” Steiner states. The focus lies on SMEs who don’t have the financial background to develop a fully featured Metaverse solution themselves.
There are two other important aspects of Smilodo’s approach: Entertainment and Quality.
“People don’t want to go just shopping today, they want to get entertained while doing their shopping” the CEO concludes, and therefore Smilodo will provide this entertainment in the form of live concerts, exhibitions, in-Mall games, and art galleries.
For this, there are some areas in our mall reserved especially for this purpose. These areas can also be rented by third parties.
The other aspect ‘Quality’ is also of the highest importance. “Selling products online demands the highest possible graphics quality and very short loading times”.
This is where currently available Metaverses fail. The client-side rendering approach they use comes with poor graphical quality and long loading times. “This is why we use server-side rendering, that enables us to provide the highest possible graphic quality and short loading times, even on devices without powerful graphic cards” Steiner declares.
Thailand must speed up investment in digital infrastructure if it wants to become the region’s hub of digital economy, the country’s top cryptocurrency chief said on Friday.
Jirayut Srupsrisopa, founder and CEO of crypto exchange Bitkub, was speaking to an audience of government and business executives at the “Metaverse Expo Thailand” in Bangkok.
Jirayut said digital infrastructure development in Thailand is currently at an early stage as the country transitions to the era of industrial automation.
But to keep up with global trends and stay ahead in the region, the government must accelerate investment in digital infrastructure, he added.
The goal for the next 10 years should no longer be “Amazing Thailand” but to become the “digital economy hub” of Asean, the Bitkub chief said.
He added that the coming Web 3.0 era would be characterised by artificial intelligence and extended reality (XR), which links the real and digital worlds via virtual and augmented reality applications.
He also forecast the e-sports audience would outgrow the audience for music and film in the future.
“The world will be changed exponentially in Web 3.0,” he said.
The value of the global Web 3.0 market is expected to reach US$81.5 billion (2.9 trillion baht) by the year 2030.
He also urged the government to collaborate with the private sector to develop digital infrastructure via big data, regulations and workforce training.
“We have to work together to strengthen Web 3.0 infrastructure, allow people to establish companies on the structure and unlock prosperity for Thailand,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nicole Nguyen, co-founder of APAC DAO, an Asia-Pacific Web 3.0 community, said that transparency and shared values are essential to create engagement in the Web 3.0 community.
Success of the community also depended on cooperation between government and private agencies, she added.
Nguyen also noted that Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand and Indonesia have advantages in terms of digital ability and talent resources.
“These countries are great in terms of resources to build up, but on the other hand their populations are tech savvy and very young,” she said.
Organised by Nation Group, the three-day “Metaverse Expo Thailand” runs at CentralWorld in the Thai capital until Sunday.
Perhaps the best way to understand the metaverse is through the digital assets and cryptocurrencies that link the real and virtual world. Crypto and digital assets were previously seen only as standalone investments. However, the dawn of the metaverse has revealed their true and almost limitless scope.
The vast potential of digital coins, property and other assets is now waiting to be tapped by the public, said experts during the “Metaverse Expo Thailand”, organised by Nation Group in Bangkok on Friday.
Thai Digital Asset Association president Supakrit Boonsart said digital assets and currencies go beyond people’s expectations and are waiting to be taken advantage of.
“We cannot tell what the metaverse will be, but we know that for people with business ideas, it has rich opportunities to use technology to improve their products and services,” he said.
Natee Theppot, co-founder of digital lifestyle provider Om Platform, said people can use digital assets in many different ways, including by creating virtual cities to power urban development.
Tascha Punyaneramitdee, co-founder and CEO of metaverse ecosystem builder Alpha Venture DAO, discussed how cryptocurrencies enhance gameplay by allowing users to purchase items in games. However, their potential goes much further, as her company has proved by launching a crypto-lending service for farmers.
Sathapon Patanakuha, CEO of SmartContract Blockchain Studio, a decentralised finance (DeFi) company, said digital assets and cryptocurrencies are the transactional link between the virtual world and the real world.
“This is a new challenge that everyone must understand, but whoever understands it quickly will be able to adapt to the new world,” he said.
The experts also diagnosed the recent meltdown in the global crypto market as teething problems in demand and supply. The sudden collapse of popular cryptocurrencies and crypto-related companies wiped more than US$1 trillion off the market between May and July.
However, digital assets that meet the demand of consumers would remain healthy while less valuable assets disappear, Supakrit said.
The experts also advised that the government should supervise the crypto industry to ensure that investors know how to benefit while mitigating their risks in the market.
As cyberattacks become more sophisticated and security solutions require more resources to analyze the huge amount of data, many organizations need advanced security services that deal with this growing complexity in real-time, 24×7.
With these in mind, cybersecurity company Kaspersky and the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) co-hosted on Thursday a technical workshop titled ‘Building a Safer Future for Thailand’.
The session aimed to raise awareness, build knowledge assets for the local cybersecurity workforce, and share how to use Threat Intelligence technologies in building the country’s defence capabilities.
Opening the event which marks Kaspersky’s first official collaboration with NCSA, Genie Sugene Gan, Head of Public Affairs for Asia Pacific, Japan, Middle-East, Turkey & Africa at Kaspersky, underlined Kaspersky’s mission to build a safer world that emphasizes the company’s commitment to a trusted and transparent future.
“We are honoured to work with NCSA on this significant move to build a safer future for Thailand and we believe that with our in-depth threat intelligence capabilities, we can work together and bring on a safer future for the local businesses, government agencies, and the public here,” commented Gan.
General Krishna Laiviratana, Deputy Secretary General of NCSA, emphasized the significance of information transfer and efficiency enhancement of the Cyber Capacity Building Program (CCBP).
“NCSA determined to improve cybersecurity expertise and raise cyber threat awareness in order to undertake integrated and responsive action. We are certain that the knowledge and experience that will be gained from this seminar will be applied to maintain and enhance cybersecurity capabilities and we are grateful every participants to join us today,” General Krishna said.
Air Vice Marshal Amorn Chomchoey, Deputy Secretary General of NCSA, outlined how the corporation between the government agency and cybersecurity firm can assist the country when it comes to build a safer future for Thailand.
“Cybersecurity is important as it allows us to understand more perspectives on coping with cyber threats, both administratively and technically. The speakers have offered invaluable insights that can be implemented at both the organizational and national levels. This seminar was highly beneficial to every cybersecurity workforce,” says Air Vice Marshal Amorn.
Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky, highlighted the importance of building a National Security Operations Center (SOC). Citing real examples from across the region, Yeo pointed out the security gaps that can be addressed by an intelligence-based SOC at a national level.
“To fight modern cyber threats, threat intelligence should be at the core of building a national SOC. With our over two decades worth of rich threat data, advanced machine learning technologies, and a unique pool of global experts, our solutions and services are powered by the latest threat intelligence from around the world. Such technologies can help nations and enterprises to keep them immune from even previously unseen cyberattacks which are urgently needed amidst our fast-changing threat environment,” Yeo added.
Furthermore, the seminar featured the latest research from Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) which has a proven track record of discovering high-profile crimeware and notorious APT campaigns across the world.
Extensive knowledge was presented by two Kaspersky experts: Kirill Vorozhtsov, Global Security Solutions Architect; and Saurabh Sharma, Senior Security Researcher at GReAT. They zeroed in on the trends to watch out for, an analysis of the threat actors’ evolving tactics, and other game-changers that are set to impact the current threat landscape in APAC and in Southeast Asia (SEA).
Choi Young-seok, the renowned coach of Thailand’s national taekwondo team, said that he supports Sports Metaverse as it would help develop world-class athletes in the future.
The “Sports Metaverse Challenge #1” is a part of “Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022”, being held from August 19 to 21 at GMM Live House, on the 8th floor of CentralWorld shopping centre in Bangkok.
Coach Choi, who was selected as a judge for the “Sport Metaverse Challenge #1”, said that this activity allows children to show their sports ability through metaverse and he is glad to utilise his skill as a taekwondo coach to supervise them.
“I am really glad to be one of the judges in the Sports Metaverse Challenge #1. I am impressed by how technology is combined with sports,” Choi said.
“Currently, technologies are developing fast. When combined with sports, the level of competition would be a whole different dimension. I am glad to become a part of Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022 and Sports Metaverse,” he said.
The Sport Metaverse Challenge #1 got underway in Bangkok on Friday to find four teams to compete in the semi-final on Sunday.
The tournament for young teams of e-sports developers is part of “Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022”, co-organised by Nation Group at GMM Live House on the 8th floor of CentralWorld from August 19 to 21.
The tournament will demonstrate the huge potential of the sports metaverse and also its role in rural development, said Preedok Thongwandee, president of the event’s sponsor, B-Lay Plus Co Ltd. He added that young game players all over the country will be able to access the event.
“First, I would like to thank The Nation and partners for creating a great event like ‘Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022’”, Preedok said.
He added that young-generation netizens, businesses and media were showing interest in the e-sports side of the expo.
“In this event, B-Lay Plus, as the main sponsor, is helping to organise the Sport Metaverse Challenge #1 for teenagers to propose their ideas in several forms through the metaverse.”
“We have a judging panel who will also act as advisers in this three-day Sport Metaverse competition, which will be held on Friday, with the semi-finals and finals on Sunday.”
Preedok said the metaverse would also benefit children in rural areas who have difficulty gaining access to information and technology.
“B-Lay Plus and The Nation will organise the Metaverse Experience Truck. It will travel to rural communities to give children access to the metaverse.”
He added that his company was also developing satellite internet and a mobile library to help introduce rural communities to the metaverse.
Meanwhile, the BS team came second with their immersive Muay Thai program, receiving 30,000 baht in prize money.
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