From a book without Thailand to Techsauce Global Summit 15 Years Beyond a Conference: An Ecosystem Taking Thai Deep Tech Global

When Oranuch Lerdsuwankij went looking for a guide to building a startup ecosystem in 2011, she came home from the Kinokuniya bookstore with a book called Startup Asia. It covered several Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, but Thailand was not among them. For Oranuch, now Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Techsauce Media Co., Ltd., that omission became the problem she set out to fix.

She told the story at Thailand Tech Talent Connect 2026, in a talk titled “Techsauce: More Than a Conference, a Platform of Pride for Thailand,” to an audience of developers and researchers competing in the program. Her message was that Techsauce works as a platform that people in technology can use to get Thai work noticed, and that the mission she took on 15 years ago now extends beyond startups to research and deep tech.

Before Techsauce, Thai Startups Had to Fly Abroad to Find Funding

Oranuch has spent about 25 years in the technology industry. She graduated with an engineering degree shortly after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, known in Thailand as the Tom Yum Kung crisis, when the economy was weak and the word “startup” was not yet in use. Software companies and large corporations that hired programmers made up the industry. She chose to gain experience first as an engineer at a mobile operator, then left when she was 28 or 29 to start businesses with friends.

There were two ventures: a digital marketing platform, which was later sold to a foreign company, and a digital agency. Those years showed her how hard it was for a Thai tech startup to raise money. Few people in Thailand knew what a startup was, so founders had to fly to Singapore, Japan and South Korea in search of funding.

That experience left her with a question: how could investors be brought to Thailand, so that startups and researchers could meet them without traveling abroad? When the book she turned to for answers did not mention Thailand, she resolved to put the country on that map.

A 150-Person Meetup Grew Into a Stage for More Than 60 Countries

She began by building a community. Her first event was a small meetup called Start It Up, which Microsoft hosted at its former office at All Seasons Place. About 150 people came, most of them entrepreneurs and programmers.

Roughly 15 years later, that meetup has grown into Techsauce Global Summit, which now draws more than 10,000 attendees from over 60 countries. According to Oranuch, the summit generates more than 500 million baht in economic impact during the week it is held, and it produces investment deal flow for startups. She acknowledged that the market is in a funding winter, but she believes government support will help Thai startups regain their momentum.

Although the scale has changed, the mission has not: make Thailand better known, draw investment into the country and give Thai entrepreneurs enough visibility to expand across the region. To that end, Techsauce offers its media platform to startups free of charge, in both Thai and English. Oranuch invited the competitors in the room to send in their technologies and use cases for coverage.

Deep Tech Sits Outside the Mainstream, So It Needs Storytellers

That media space matters most for deep tech. Oranuch said many major outlets see the field as outside the mainstream and give it little coverage, even though visibility strongly affects what becomes of a research project. For that reason, Techsauce has been covering deep tech for some time.

Advancing deep tech, she explained, depends on several parties each playing a part. Government and policymakers provide the funding that carries projects across the “valley of death,” the stretch between research and market where money tends to run out. Techsauce’s part is visibility, which means covering as many projects by Thai entrepreneurs and researchers as it can. Visibility is only the first step, though. Her aim is to use Techsauce Global Summit to build connections and turn them into collaboration.

Coverage therefore starts with global megatrends, such as those discussed at the World Economic Forum, and shows how Thai research fits into the bigger picture. Investors look closely at where trends are heading, Oranuch noted, alongside social and business impact. Techsauce has also partnered with France-based Hello Tomorrow since 2017 to share knowledge in deep tech fields such as quantum technology and the application of AI to biology.

Universities are part of the effort too. Techsauce supports the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management (iNT) at Mahidol University, which handles technology transfer and startup building within the university, and it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mahidol to raise the profile of university projects.

Techsauce also serves as the operating agency for SPACE-F, a food tech accelerator run with the National Innovation Agency (NIA), Thai Union, Mahidol University and Nestlé, and it gives the program a stage at Techsauce Global Summit. Food, Oranuch said, is one of the fields in which Thailand has a real chance to make its mark globally.

One Stage for Government, Researchers and High School Students

Because collaboration is the goal, Techsauce Global Summit is open to many groups. Government agencies use it to launch programs, and the most recent example Oranuch cited is the accelerator that the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) runs with OpenAI. In the exhibition zone, universities such as Chulalongkorn University showcase their research, which gives researchers the chance to meet investors and large corporations that can commercialize their work.

This year the summit reached high schools as well. Techsauce believes that science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education should take root before university, so it opened a competition track for high school students. Sponsors helped select the winners, who earned a study trip to Japan.

Another program is now accepting applications: a hackathon organized by the Thai Society Innovation Network (TSIN), a community of young Thais in the United Kingdom, in partnership with OpenAI. Its challenges cover health and smart cities. Techsauce’s own challenge asks participants how Thailand can connect more closely with other countries in investment and business matching. Every challenge emphasizes social impact, Oranuch said, and the hackathon welcomes international participants who want to help build “Team Thailand.” Beyond the hackathon, Techsauce has a network in more than 40 countries and is ready to connect Thais with tech communities overseas.

Moving From User to Builder Starts With Believing in Thai Talent

Oranuch closed with a conviction: deep tech is what will turn Thailand from a user of technology into a builder of it, and it will unlock many new opportunities along the way. Broad participation in driving the ecosystem is just as important, which is why she called on corporations and the private sector to join in.

She admitted that advancing deep tech is difficult. Everything needs a starting point, though, and hers is belief in the potential of Thai tech talent.

A summit that now draws people from more than 60 countries started the same way, with a book that left Thailand out.

Source: “Techsauce: More Than a Conference, a Platform of Pride for Thailand,” Thailand Tech Talent Connect 2026