Date : 22/5/2006

News Release
by MIM Program

Thammasat University has again shown itself among top ranked business schools with another successful year at the world’s most challenging venture capital business plan competitions. After a Championship year in 2005, winning the Asia Moot Corp Competition, the New Venture Championship at the University of Oregon, and the Global Moot Corp Competition at the University of Texas at Austin, Thammasat continued to show that it competes among the best business schools in the world with top finishes in 2006. This year was also the first year that three separate teams had pursued and advanced to final rounds in these competitions:

Angel– An innovative media channel targeted to teenagers via mobile phones. Opt-in members listen to a 15 second interactive voice message when they call out.

RubberWay – A pat-pending, battery operated, automated rubber tapping device, saving 40% in tapping time and extending the life of rubber trees by 45%.

Pro-found – A vocational experiential training school focused on enhancing the attitude and confidence of entry level workers in the hospitality industry.

Angel was chosen to represent Thammasat for the two most prestigious competitions, representing up to 10 of the top 20 business schools in the world. They rose to the occasion finishing ahead of more than 70 of these prestigious schools such as Harvard, Duke, and The Ivey School of business.

Global Moot Corp – From a starting track of 36 teams, Thammasat continued to show that it was among the top 8 teams advancing to the Semi-finals. Global Moot Corp Director Rob Adams said, “We expect big things from Thammasat.Thammasat will always be facing some of the best in this competition.” Thammasat met the challenge bypassing, Oxford University’s SAID Business School, London Business School, and Lyon of France to be the only team ever to make it to the semifinal or finals for 4 consecutive years.
Thammasat still remains the only non-US University in the history of the competition to have achieved Global Moot Corp Champion twice. In the semifinals they faced the two eventual winners Carnegie Mellon (Global Champion) and Columbia University (1st Runner Up).Thammasat also won an internal secondary competition, the Murphree Partners Venture Challenge, and was awarded “Best Written Business Plan” winning a total of 80,000 baht in prizes. Along the way, the biggest prize for Angel was the several venture capitalists who took a strong interest in supporting Angel as it moves forward with its business. The Global Moot Corp Competition gathers top venture capitalists to the event each year.



New Venture Championship
The New venture challenge began with some 40 MBA programs from North America vying for a spot in the Semi-final presentation rounds taking place in Portland, Oregon. Thammasat was paired and finished 2nd in the semi-final round against Stanford University. Stanford went on to finish as the 1st runner up in the New Venture Championship and taking the invitation to the Global Moot Corp Competition. Thammasat went on to beat Harvard Business School and the University of Arizona in the “Lightning Round” to secure its position as one of the top 8 participating schools.

Thammasat’s Angel was the talk of the competition, as it also won the Textronics Mini Trade Show. “The hands down winner, without a question was Angel – always with the biggest crowd around their exhibition”, explained Competition Director, Randy Swangard during the award ceremonies. Thammasat’s Angel team won a total of 90,000 baht at the competition.












2006 RESULTS for Thammasat University’s Moot Corp Program

Global Moot Corp, University of Texas at Austin – Angel