Spin-offs from WU: The Businesses from University Knowledge
Being a Frontier Research University, Walailak University (WU), by the highly qualified faculty members, produces a large number of quality research studies and projects that give tangible results. Many research projects have high impact and achieve an outstanding success, enabling them to be established as spin-offs of the university, such as Walaibiocontrol Co., Ltd.
Walaibiocontrol Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary company of WU, which is a spin-off company of the School of Agricultural Technology and Food Industry, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Warin Intana serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). It was registered and established to benefit from the intellectual property of Walailak University for more than 3 years (since the year 2020), and it continues to operate its agricultural bioproduct manufacturing and distribution business for farmers.
Under the drive of the Walailak Business Incubation Center (WIC) has actively supported the creation of businesses by leveraging the university’s strong technology to address community and societal challenges. This has led to generating income for the organization. The company had an income of 6,094,940 baht in 2021, 4,893,553 baht in 2022, and the highest of 6,563,040.20 baht in 2023.
Moreover, the company has been awarded the international AABI Torch Entrepreneur Awards for its “TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER” model by the Asia Association of Business Incubation. Prior to this, the company had also received the TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER award from the Thailand Business Incubation Association.
In 2023, a total of 4 new companies were established to benefit from intellectual property of the university, including:
- PLANKTONWU CO., LTD. (Plankton Cultivation Technology)
- LAKWALAI BIOTIC CO., LTD. (Probiotics for Marine Shrimp Feed)
- OXAKIN INNOTECH CO., LTD. (An Emulsion Formula Containing Red Palm Oil that Can Reduce Rashes and Provide Moisturization)
- CHANCHAOHERB LIMITED PARTNERSHIP (Skin-nourishing hydrogel technology derived from gac fruit extract)
Therefore, creating businesses based on institutional knowledge in university by leveraging technology generated from research and development into commercial processes is a way to capitalize on intellectual property to generate income and economic value-added, leading to sustainable development, creating revenue cycles, and returning benefits to the educational institution.
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure