Origins and History

The idea of establishing a certain health and wellness initiative such as program or research centers was raised by DEAN SET, Prof. Dieter Trau during the SET Retreat on 15 December 2020 at Pinehurst Golf Club & Hotel. The potential of such initiative are made based on three important observations:

  • Lack of combined research efforts or initiatives on health exists on AIT
  • Strong existing set of faculties on health-related domains that can possibly collaborate together yielding impact on health research domains
  • Relevance of the COVID pandemic raises the importance of health and wellness technologies

Based on these observations, a workshop has been held among the team (see Section C: Research Centre Team) during the Retreat discussing the most feasible “first” step yielding some initial consensuses and decisions. These decisions are further discussed and solidified in a meeting held on 17 February 2021. The executive summaries of the meeting are as follows:

  • Agreed that starting the initiative as a research center is the most viable option
  • Agreed on the working title of the center as “Health and Wellness Technologies”
  • Agreed on the need to draft a proposal discussing the general direction, activities of the center, revenue streams, etc. This present document is a response to the call.
  • Agreed on the need to draft an internal agreement stating the recognition of incoming revenues under the members’ department. This present document contains such clauses in section F.2 and agreement in section G.

Vision, Mission

Vision

The Center for Health and Wellness Technologies (WellTech) at the Asian Institute of Technology will be a leading interdisciplinary academic organization in Thailand dedicated to advancing, applying and providing real-world industry-relevant health and wellness technologies solutions that are backed by strong research backgrounds, delivering social impact across local communities/regions and internal forums.

Mission

To create a culture of achievement, the Center promotes:

  • Academic Excellence via
    • Securing competitive research grants
    • Joining faculty efforts
    • Providing infrastructures and shared facilities
    • Attracting promising new faculty
    • Nurturing young talents
    • Publishing high-impact/cutting-edge researches
  • Outreach Excellence via
    • Partnering with academic bodies, enterprises, and public health sectors to identify new opportunities and to access potential financial, human, and data resources, enabling industry-relevant achievements and delivering social impact worthy of a mention
  • Translational Excellence via
    • Seeking opportunities for commercializations and startups
    • Working closely with EC during the entire phase of ideation, design, implementation and deployment