National Instruments (NI), a global provider of platform-based engineering systems, kick starts Myanmar operations in academia

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS (NI), a global provider of platform-based engineering systems, is intensifying its activities in Myanmar with the creation of new platforms for teaching and research for the academic segment.

Matej Krajnc, NI’s managing director for Asean, Australia and New Zealand, said in an exclusive interview that the firm has partnered with Synopsis Technology Myanmar to offer its innovative products and technical solutions to the local market. He said both firms shared the same vision in leveraging the platform.

“We started with academia. But we believe there will be a lot of other activities in Myanmar because our products are distributed globally,” he said.

“Right now, we are focusing more on quality and support. We are really looking at how we can bring our technology to Myanmar, how we can help our partners, customers and the society. We need to understand the market better.”

Krajnc sees a lot of rooms for improvement in the firm’s business expansion, particularly in areas that need high technology for rapid growth, such as transportation, automotive industry, infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing.

However, he said bringing their products to other parts of the country might pose some challenges due to Myanmar’s large geographical areas. Another challenge is to develop the ecosystem of its local partners, he added.

“One important thing is that part of our platform is the ecosystem of our partners. So we will be looking for more companies that are willing to leverage our products and technology, and develop some integration services on top of integrated technology,” he said.

Krajnc considers education as a key to Myanmar’s long-term competitiveness. In this regard, the firm recently hosted the first Professor Days, a forum for the academic community that created an interactive platform where international experts shared ideas and experience with peers from different locations to support engineering education and research.

“For Myanmar, our activities are heavily related to academia so it is very important to have a specially-dedicated event for academic institutions. So, we hosted a forum to discuss about common problems such as how to leverage technology and how to improve the educational process in Myanmar by bringing international professors. We raised the starting point,” he said.

The event brought together more than 100 Myanmar engineers, researchers and educators to hear from international experts from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand. Best practices and insights were shared on areas such as experiential learning in engineering, enhancing teaching and research in a control laboratory, and educators’ evolution from teaching to research.

Tools of transformation

Krajnc said the platform and products designed and developed by its local partner would provide Myanmar students with a lot of opportunities. The tools could transform the way students learn circuits, controls, measurements and communications, accelerating discovery, productivity and innovation, he added.

“We hope to help Myanmar educators ‘future-proof’ their students. We also encourage teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to pursue their passion and research ideas,” he said.

He stressed the importance of producing industry-ready university graduates to drive Myanmar’s economy in the long run. He is also aware of the critical role of small and medium enterprises. In this respect, the firm is working with some government institutions to discuss how to build laboratories for them to be innovation space for SMEs to design and manufacture new products.

According to Krajnc, innovation strongly contributes to a nation’s growth. He calls for the creation of an ecosystem of technology that can bring brilliant ideas to the industry. He also suggested encouraging technically-educated engineers through a stronger education system, making curriculums more interesting by allowing students to explore boundaries, and supporting industrial expansion of companies in a bid to attract more investment into the country.

“Our long-term partnership with Synopsis aims at not only sales and distribution of our products but also developing proficiency in Myanmar of the technology we designed,” he said.

The firm has been contributing expertise and resources towards enhancing engineering and technology trainings in Myanmar. This includes International Conference on Science and Engineering sponsorships at Yangon Technology University, support for inter-school competitions focusing on robotics, wireless communications and advanced engineering, NI LabVIEW trainings and workshops at local technology universities.

(Eleven Media Group: http://elevenmyanmar.com/business/12763 )

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