BANGKOK, THAILAND – Media OutReach Newswire – 23 June 2026 – Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul formally launched Thailand FastPass at Government House, mobilizing over USD 21 billion (approximately 700 billion baht) in strategic high-tech investment. The program integrates eight government agencies to cut regulatory approval timelines by up to 50 percent, accelerating approved investments from license to operating factory.
FastPass targets high-value sectors including advanced electronics, aerospace technology, precision machinery and automation systems, and recycled plastics.
By coordinating eight key government agencies—including Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI), the Department of Industrial Works, the Customs Department, the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP), the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, and the Provincial Electricity Authority—the initiative removes historical friction in permitting, environmental approvals, and infrastructure connectivity.
At the ceremony, the eight agencies formalized their coordination by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) committing to reduce approval and licensing timelines by 20 to 50 percent across key investment milestones, including factory permits, free-zone processing, environmental impact assessments, and power grid connections.
The ceremony drew more than 300 attendees, including foreign diplomats, international chambers of commerce, and multinational executives.
“In today’s global economy, speed is the ultimate competitive differentiator,” said Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, Prime Minister of Thailand. “The Thai government is shifting from regulator to active business facilitator. By removing regulatory hurdles, increasing speed, and ensuring policy transparency, we are driving physical investments that will generate next-generation employment and secure Thailand’s long-term regional competitiveness.”
The push to turn approved projects into physical factories follows a historic surge in investment applications. BOI received a record USD 54.5 billion (approximately 1.8 trillion baht) in investment applications in 2025. Momentum has carried into 2026, with first-quarter applications already exceeding USD 30.3 billion (approximately 1 trillion baht).
The USD 21 billion total spans two FastPass cohorts. In the first phase, FastPass resolved regulatory bottlenecks for 76 previously approved projects valued at over USD 14.4 billion (approximately 474 billion baht). Today’s ceremony launched the second cohort: 25 projects from 23 companies worth USD 6.7 billion (approximately 223 billion baht), each receiving a formal Thailand FastPass certificate.
“We are focusing heavily on ‘realized investment’ entering the actual economy,” said Mr. Ekniti Nitithanprapas, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. “The FastPass mechanism is designed to deliver immediate, concrete economic results in the short term, while laying down long-term structural benefits that will distribute wealth across our broader economy. These 25 pilot projects from 23 companies are projected to generate over 13,000 high-skilled jobs. Combined with the 76 projects cleared under FastPass in the preceding phase, total investment mobilized by the program exceeds 700 billion baht.”
This mechanism converts corporate capital into domestic benefits across five key dimensions: driving investment-led GDP growth, generating high-skilled careers, transferring technical know-how, integrating local SMEs, and creating localized economic multipliers within regional communities.
“The FastPass program fundamentally changes how Thailand works with global investors,” said Mr. Narit Therdsteerasukdi, Secretary-General of the BOI. “We put eight agencies into one pipeline. Permit timelines that once stretched for months can now be cut by up to half. That gets factories built, creates high-skilled jobs, and pulls Thai suppliers into global supply chains.”
Global corporations participating in the FastPass program cited Thailand’s strategic location, modern infrastructure, robust supply chains, skilled workforce, and favorable investment policies as the key drivers for their expansion.
“Thailand possesses the talent, infrastructure, and policy support necessary for next-generation industries,” said Mr. Simon Gwozdz, CEO of Equatorial Space (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a developer of low-Earth orbit space launch vehicles. “The BOI’s one-stop coordination significantly reduces regulatory complexity.”
“The availability of raw materials, infrastructure, and proactive government support were critical in our decision to anchor our regional operations here,” said Mr. Donald Carpenter, CFO of U.S.-based PureCycle Technologies, Inc. “The FastPass mechanism directly improves our operational efficiency.”
“The speed of obtaining factory licenses under the scheme has accelerated our operational readiness, creating a smoother path to scale,” said Mr. Larry Foo of SAM Precision (Thailand), a Malaysia-based manufacturer of precision components for the semiconductor industry.
“The depth of Thailand’s electronics supply chain and supportive state policies were critical to our investment decision,” said Mr. Kris Leetavorn, Director of Advanced Connection Technology, a high-density printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer. “The FastPass program drastically simplifies state coordination, allowing us to hit aggressive deployment timelines.”
To demonstrate Thailand’s readiness for advanced industries, the government showcased technologies currently being deployed or manufactured in Thailand, including humanoid robotics, LiDAR sensor systems, aerospace technology, and advanced electronics.
“Thailand FastPass proves what is possible when all agencies move in the same direction—approved investments actually get built,” Mr. Narit concluded. “The world is reshuffling supply chains. Investors need clarity and speed. Thailand is ready to deliver both. We will keep expanding FastPass to cover more permits and more strategic industries, creating quality jobs, strengthening supply chains, and raising Thailand’s long-term competitiveness.”
USD conversion based on a reference exchange rate of approximately 33 baht per USD (Bank of Thailand, June 2026).
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Thailand Board of Investment
Established in 1966, the Office of the Board of Investment (BOI) has continuously played an essential role for over 60 years in promoting value-adding investment for the country, from both foreign and Thai investors, to enhance national competitiveness and drive sustained economic growth and long-term national competitiveness.
Investment Services Center, PR Section, The Office of the Board of Investment (BOI)
Singapore health AI company introduces a contactless wellness tool that lets MCP-compatible AI assistants sense a person’s everyday vital signs from a single 10-second face scan.
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 23 June 2026 – Nervotec, a Singapore-based health AI company, today announced the launch of NervoScan MCP, a contactless biosensing tool that lets MCP-compatible AI assistants read a person’s everyday vital signs from a 10-second face scan using any laptop, phone, or webcam camera.
AI assistants are quickly gaining the ability to act in the real world. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) has become a common standard for connecting them to outside tools and data: documents, calendars, databases, and software. What they have not been able to do is sense the physical state of the person in front of them. NervoScan MCP adds that missing layer. Every health tool in the MCP ecosystem so far has been a passive reader of data a device already captured. NervoScan MCP is an active sensor that takes a fresh reading on demand.
The timing reflects two trends converging. Millions of people now track their health through wearables and apps, while a fast-growing group of power users are wiring agentic AI assistants into their daily tools and routines. NervoScan MCP sits where those meet, giving a personal AI assistant a direct, on-demand read of the user’s physiology, the one input it has never had.
How it works
With NervoScan MCP, an assistant calls a single tool, scan_vitals, and the user looks at a camera for about 10 seconds. The assistant receives estimates of six everyday vital signs: heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and a stress score. The reading runs on remote photoplethysmography (rPPG), which detects minute colour changes in facial video from a standard camera, with no wearable and no extra hardware. NervoScan MCP is model-agnostic, working with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor, and any MCP-enabled client, and it never carries the assistant’s language-model cost. Users connect once through the standard MCP authorization flow, and new users start with 20 free scans.
“NervoScan MCP allows AI to go beyond its ability to reason. Now it can sense,” said Jonathan Lau, Founder and CEO of Nervotec. “For the first time, an AI assistant can access a real-world physiological signal through a simple camera interaction, giving it a layer of context beyond text, documents, and software tools.”
NervoScan MCP is built for users of agentic AI: the people running assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, hermes agent, biohackers, and self-trackers who want their AI to factor in how their body is actually doing. Connect it once, and a 10-second face scan hands the assistant real-time vital signs to reason over, on a camera the user already owns.
“We’re building the world’s first health-sensing layer for AI,” said Lau. “Assistants can already read your emails, book flights, and plan your day. Now they can sense how you’re actually doing, and that makes them more useful almost everywhere, from health and training to the everyday decisions people make.”
Built on research
NervoScan’s technology was developed through research conducted with Singapore General Hospital, with peer-reviewed results published in JMIR Formative Research (2025).
“Putting our work through peer review mattered to us,” said Lau. “It means the method was examined by independent experts, not simply asserted by the company that built it. That foundation is what we’re building on as we bring health sensing to AI.”
Private by design
As AI systems gain access to more personal information, privacy and data governance are central to how NervoScan is designed.
“NervoScan does not store scan results. The scan happens, you see it. When you leave, it’s gone,” said Lau.
NervoScan is built as a biosensing system, not an identification system: its purpose is to extract physiological signals from facial video, not to identify a person from their face. Every scan requires the user’s consent, and NervoScan retains only a timestamp of when a scan took place, never the readings themselves. As Lau puts it: “We don’t sell your data, because there is nothing to sell.”
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Nervotec
Nervotec is a Singapore-based health AI company focused on contactless biosensing. Its technology uses camera-based sensing and artificial intelligence to make wellness information more accessible through the devices people already use, letting AI systems, digital platforms, and organisations access physiological context through a simple camera interaction. Nervotec powers health monitoring in Pulse by Prudential across Asia and Africa, and its technology was developed through research with Singapore General Hospital and the National University Health System (NUHS), peer-reviewed in JMIR Formative Research (2025).
Disclaimer
NervoScan is a general wellness tool, not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition, and its estimates are not a substitute for a medical device or a professional clinical assessment.
BANGKOK, THAILAND – Media OutReach Newswire – 23 June 2026 – PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Company Limited (OR), Thailand’s leading energy and lifestyle retail operator, has announced its OR 2030 Goals – a comprehensive sustainability framework across three dimensions: Economic Prosperity, Living Community, and Healthy Environment – as the global energy industry undergoes accelerating transition, navigates geopolitical uncertainty, and responds to climate imperatives.
The announcement comes as OR marks its third consecutive year as the No. 1 ranked company in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2026 in the retail industry category, placing it among the top 1% of more than 9,200 companies assessed globally. OR has also been selected as a member of the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices (DJBICI) for the third straight year, reflecting the company’s consistent performance across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimensions.
“At OR, we believe that growth and responsibility are not trade-offs – they are the same pursuit. Our 2030 Goals reflect our commitment to ensuring that as OR grows, so do the people, communities, and environments we operate within. Inclusive growth is not a vision statement. It is how we run our business,” said M.L. Peekthong Thongyai, Chief Executive Officer, PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Company Limited (OR).
OR’s 2030 Goals are built on the 3Ps framework – People, Planet, and Performance, with three concrete targets: driving inclusive growth with more than one million partners, entrepreneurs, employees, and community stakeholders; improving quality of life across more than 17,000 communities, reaching over 12 million people; and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than one-third against the 2022 baseline, with a long-term commitment to Net Zero Emissions by 2050.
Across all three dimensions of its sustainability framework (Economic Prosperity, Living Community, and Healthy Environment), OR’s commitments are grounded in existing operations and measurable outcomes.
On the Economic Prosperity front, OR’s PTT Station network in Thailand – spanning over 2,400 stations nationwide, serving 4 million customers daily alongside 681 partner brands – provides small entrepreneurs and investors with direct access to one of Thailand’s largest retail ecosystems. OR also opens sales channels within Café Amazon stores for community bakery entrepreneurs.
On the Living Community front, the Café Amazon for Chance program has opened more than 500 branches, each employing at least one hire from vulnerable groups – elderly, disabled, or otherwise disadvantaged individuals – creating over 400 jobs through an accessible franchise model. The Thaidet program, which promotes local SME products through OR’s retail network, has expanded to 487 outlets nationwide, creating a direct sales channel for community entrepreneurs. The Sustainable Coffee Project develops farmers across the full supply chain from cultivation to processing, providing stable income to agricultural communities while reducing the carbon footprint of production.
On the Healthy Environment front, OR’s EV Station PluZ network has expanded to more than 1,300 locations across all 77 provinces, with 2,931 DC charge connectors including Ultra-Fast Charge technology delivering up to 480 kW – capable of serving six vehicles simultaneously. OR also supplies Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to leading airlines at Suvarnabhumi Airport, contributing to the decarbonization of Thailand’s aviation sector. Solar installations – spanning Solar Rooftop, Solar Floating, and Solar Farm formats – are being scaled across PTT Station sites and beyond under 15–25-year Private Power Purchase Agreements. The company has also invested in Thai Pipeline Network, operator of Thailand’s oil pipeline infrastructure, strengthening energy supply security while reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.
As the energy transition reshapes markets across Asia, OR’s 2030 Goals chart a clear path toward inclusive and sustainable growth, with a long-term commitment to Net Zero Emissions by 2050.
Hashtag: #OR
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
One of the first cybersecurity vendors selected as OpenAI expands Daybreak from internal testing to a curated group of trusted defenders
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 23 June 2026 – TrendAI™, the enterprise AI security leader from Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), today announced it has joined the OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program – gaining access to OpenAI’s frontier AI capabilities purpose-built for cybersecurity. TrendAI™ is among the first cybersecurity vendors selected as OpenAI expands Daybreak from internal testing to a curated group of trusted defenders, reflecting TrendAI™’s three-decade track record at the forefront of global threat intelligence.
TrendAI™ managed security teams are already deploying agentic triage capabilities powered by OpenAI’s frontier AI models integrated directly into TrendAI Vision One™. Security operations triage agents autonomously surface AI-assisted insights within the SIEM platforms, XDR consoles, and threat intelligence portals analysts already work in – delivering contextual triage decisions at machine speed and measurably reducing mean time to triage. Analysts shift from reactive alert handling to the escalation and validation decisions that require human judgment.
The partnership also strengthens TrendAI™’s vulnerability intelligence programs. With OpenAI’s frontier cyber capabilities embedded in TrendAI Vision One™ as part of a managed service workflow, this gives threat researchers greater speed and precision in identifying, prioritizing, and disclosing vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.Intelligence feeds directly into virtual patching and pre-disclosure capabilities, so customers receive protection at the point of discovery, often before a CVE is published or a vendor patch is available.
Insights developed through Daybreak will feed directly into TrendAI™’s global threat intelligence programs and Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) – the industry’s longest-running vendor-agnostic bug bounty program – extending the reach and impact of coordinated disclosure across the broader software ecosystem.
“Integrating OpenAI’s frontier cyber capabilities directly into TrendAI Vision One™ is a meaningful step forward for enterprise security teams. Our customers benefit from faster, more precise threat analysis and vulnerability research – without ever interacting with the model directly. This is AI working as infrastructure: built into the products and services security teams already rely on, raising the bar for every organization that depends on them.” Rachel Jin, Chief Platform and Business Officer, Head of TrendAI™.
As a Trusted Partner, TrendAI™ joins a select community of organizations working alongside OpenAI to advance the responsible use of frontier AI for security. The Daybreak program reflects a shared conviction that the most powerful application of advanced AI is fundamentally proactive – giving defenders the speed, precision, and scale to stay ahead of threats before they materialize.Hashtag: #trendai #trendaivisionone #visionone #trendmicro #OpenAI
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About TrendAI™
TrendAI™, the global AI security leader and enterprise business unit of Trend Micro, empowers organizations with full AI visibility and consolidated security that inspires confidence, drives innovation, and eliminates risk. Trusted by the largest enterprises and governments across 185 countries, TrendAI™ secures the entire organization, from identities to infrastructure to data. Global Fortune 500 companies rely on TrendAI™ to cut risk and stop threats up to three months earlier, powered by world-leading threat and attack intelligence. Through deep ecosystem partnerships with market leaders like NVIDIA, Anthropic, AWS, Google, and Microsoft, TrendAI™ empowers your organization to securely drive forward at the speed of AI. AI Fearlessly. Learn more at trendaisecurity.com.
作为本港资深的补习及升学顾问机构，慧理教育（For You Education）第二季度市场趋势观察指出，高才通家长对子女的教育规划多倾向选择国际学校或直资学校的”双轨制”路径，导致 IB、IGCSE、A-Level 等国际考试的咨询量与报考人数爆发式增长。慧理教育剖析三大深层原因：第一，家长视留学为建立全球化世界观、增长见识的关键路径；第二，国际课程学术研究精深，鼓励学生将精力集中在擅长领域，实现更高的学业成就；第三，国际考试安排灵活，允许重考，备考自主性更高。
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 22 June 2026 – AS Watson Group has launched AS Watson brand lab, a data-driven brand creation and scaling platform designed to systematically identify, develop, and grow brands across its global retail ecosystem. Built on the company’s integrated O+O (Offline plus Online) capabilities, extensive distribution network, and deep consumer insight from over 180 million loyalty members, the platform transforms how brands are brought to market – enabling both the creation of new propositions and the rapid scaling of brands across multiple markets with speed, discipline and consistency.
The initiative formalises capabilities the Group has been building internally, combining data-led demand identification, integrated distribution, and execution across more than 17,000 O+O stores in Asia and Europe.
Over the past two years, AS Watson has introduced more than 4,800 new brands and brand extensions across its network, underscoring the scale of its brand development activity.
From Incubation to Execution
AS Watson brand lab departs from traditional incubator models by embedding brand development directly within AS Watson’s retail ecosystem.
Rather than incubating brands ahead of their market entry, the platform operates inside the market, using real-time customer data, shopping behaviour and category dynamics to inform development decisions.
Dr Malina Ngai, Group CEO of AS Watson, said the model reflects the company’s structural advantage. “We don’t wait for brands to find the market – we build them where demand already exists, and scale them through our ecosystem.”
A Systemised Growth Model
At the core of AS Watson brand lab is an integrated operating model linking insight, creation, distribution, demand activation and scaling.
The platform leverages AS Watson’s over 180 million loyalty members and O+O capabilities to accelerate brand selection and commercial execution.
A Structured Pathway to Scale
Brands within AS Watson brand lab are supported through a structured growth pathway, progressing from early-stage validation to regional scaling and category leadership.
At each stage, brands receive differentiated support across insight, distribution, marketing activation and investment, ensuring resources are focused where the greatest growth potential exists.
This staged approach enables AS Watson to systematically build, scale and prioritise brands, improving success rates while maintaining disciplined capital allocation.
Focus on High-Growth Segments
AS Watson brand lab will prioritise product segments including Asian beauty trends (K-beauty, J-beauty, C-beauty), ingredient-led skincare, health and wellness products and elevated personal care – areas where consumer demand continues to evolve rapidly.
The Group expects the platform to strengthen its ability to build proprietary and exclusive brands while improving speed-to-market and capital efficiency.
Proven Brand Scaling in Action
Early outcomes demonstrate how AS Watson brand lab translates insight into accelerated growth – not only by shaping brand development, but by scaling brands rapidly across markets through its integrated O+O ecosystem.
Across multiple categories and geographies, the platform has enabled brands to move from targeted market entry to multi-market expansion with speed and discipline:
COSRX (K-Beauty)– By combining COSRX’s innovation-led skincare expertise with AS Watson’s extensive retail footprint and deep consumer insights, the partnership has accelerated international expansion and broadened consumer reach. This illustrates how the platform converts strong brand propositions into sustained category growth across markets.
&honey (J-Beauty) – Leveraging its distinctive product positioning alongside AS Watson’s regional scale, &honey rapidly expanded beyond its home market, rolling out across multiple Asian markets within a short timeframe. This demonstrates the platform’s ability to systematically scale proven domestic leaders into regional brands.
e.l.f. Cosmetics (US) – Through partnership with AS Watson, e.l.f. has extended its community-led, value-driven model across Europe, translating strong brand engagement into measurable market penetration. The example highlights how consumer-centric brands can be amplified through local market execution at scale.
essence (Germany) – The expansion of essence across multiple markets, including exclusive partnerships, reflects how purpose-driven brands can achieve consistency and reach when supported by integrated distribution and retail insight. This underscores the platform’s ability to build sustained brand relevance and loyalty across diverse markets.
Across these examples, brands have scaled through a consistent model – combining data-led selection, integrated distribution, and coordinated market execution – demonstrating how AS Watson brand lab functions as a repeatable engine for brand growth, from market entry through to regional scale.
Scaling a Repeatable Engine
AS Watson brand lab positions AS Watson to leverage its retail footprint not only as a distribution channel, but as an engine for brand creation and scaling.
The initiative signals a shift from opportunistic brand sourcing towards a structured, repeatable growth model, reinforcing AS Watson’s ability to scale brands with speed, discipline and consistency while driving long-term portfolio value.
AS Watson continues to engage with selected brand partners and emerging brands aligned with its focus areas, with further information available through its official AS Watson brand lab platform (https://www.aswatson.com/asw-brand-lab)
Hashtag: #ASWatson
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About AS Watson Group
Established in 1841, AS Watson Group is one of the world’s longest-standing and most recognised retail companies with roots in Asia. Today, the company operates over 17,000 stores across 12 retail brands in 31 markets, employing 130,000 people globally. This makes AS Watson Group the largest international health and beauty retailer in the world.
In the fiscal year 2025, AS Watson Group reported revenue of over US$26 billion. The company’s technology-enabled O+O (Offline plus Online) platforms serve over 6 billion shoppers annually, seamlessly integrating physical and digital retail experiences.
AS Watson Group supported over 180 charitable and non-profit organisations every year, dedicating over 40,000 hours of volunteer work to serve over 370,000 people in need in our operating markets.
AS Watson Group is also a member of the world-renowned multinational conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, which has four core businesses – ports and related services, retail, infrastructure and telecommunications in over 50 countries.
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