The central bank of Laos has piloted a digital currency project with a Japanese blockchain firm to grow the digital economy and cashless payment systems in Laos.
DFA Awards 2022
Five Renowned Award Programmes – Fostering Design Innovation in Asia
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 9 February 2023 – DFA Awards is proud to announce the awardees of its 5 major programmes. DFA Awards is a flagship programme launched by by Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) in 2003; with Create Hong Kong, set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), as its lead sponsor.
Awardees include Katsumi ASABA, Founder of Katsumi ASABA Design Studio, winner of the DFA Lifetime Achievement Award (DFA LAA); Muneaki MASUDA, President and CEO of Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd, winner of the DFA Design Leadership Award (DFA DLA); GUO Pei, Founder of Rose Studio, winner of the title of DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer (DFA WOCD).
Two new disciplines – Digital & Motion Design, Service & Experience Design – have been added to DFA Design for Asia Awards (DFA DFAA) this year, with a total of 195 awards. The awardees of the Grand Awards include EOS R3 by Canon Inc.; HONG KONG WALK ON / Tai Ping x Anothermountainman by 84000 Communications Limited; M+ and M+ museum of visual culture, both by M Plus Museum Limited; Music Hall in the Sky by Takuro Yamamoto Architects; Pingtan Book House by Condition_Lab; TaiSugar Circular Village by Bio-Architecture Formosana; Venova (YVS-140) by Yamaha Corporation; and Yuandang Bridge/ The Mainland by BAU Brearley Architects+Urbanists, SIDRI, and T&D.
The DFA Hong Kong Young Design Talent Award (DFA HKYDTA) recognises 16 designers’ outstanding work. 13 of them will be granted extensive financial sponsorships to continue their academic studies overseas for 6-18 months; or work in top design institutions around the globe for 6-12 months.
For the past 20 years, HKDC has been actively fostering Hong Kong’s design culture, launching revolutionary platforms to encourage cross-boundary exchanges between creatives in the region and the whole of Asia. DFA Awards will continue to reinforce Hong Kong’s standing as a renowned international design hub.
Hashtag: #DFAAwards2022 #HongKongDesignCentre
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC – www.hkdesigncentre.org)
A non-governmental organisation registered in 2001 and established in 2002, HKDC is a strategic partner of the HKSAR Government in establishing Hong Kong as an international centre of design excellence in Asia. Our mission is to promote the wider and strategic use of design and design thinking to create business value and improve societal well-being.
Laos, China, Thailand Operate First Round-Trip Freight Train

The first China-Laos-Thailand freight train departed from Kunming on Tuesday carrying nine cold-chain containers packed with about 280 tonnes of fresh vegetables for export to Laos and Thailand.
Netflix Plans to Curb Password Sharing Among Users This Year
Netflix will reportedly crack down on password sharing among all users later this year following the company’s error in posting a set of guidelines regarding password sharing termination earlier this month.
The Secret To A Stress-free Date Night This Valentine’s Day
Can’t enjoy a night out without worrying about leaving your home unattended? With Arlo, now you can!
Hashtag: #Arlo #ArloTechnologies
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Arlo Technologies, Inc.
Arlo is the award-winning, industry leader that is transforming the way people experience the connected lifestyle. Arlo’s deep expertise in product design, wireless connectivity, cloud infrastructure and cuttingedge AI capabilities focuses on delivering a seamless, smart home experience for Arlo users that is easy to setup and interact with every day. The company’s cloud-based platform provides users with visibility, insight and a powerful means to help protect and connect in real-time with the people and things that matter most, from any location with a Wi-Fi or a cellular connection. To date, Arlo has launched several categories of award-winning smart connected devices, including wire-free smart Wi-Fi and 4G LTEenabled security cameras, audio and video doorbells, and floodlight.
With a mission to bring users peace of mind, Arlo is as passionate about protecting user privacy as it is about safeguarding homes and families. Arlo is committed to supporting industry standards for data protection designed to keep users’ personal information private and in their control. Arlo doesn’t monetize personal data, provides enhanced controls for user data, supports privacy legislation, keeps user data safely secure, and puts security at the forefront of company culture.
Vientiane Rescue Speaks Out About Rising Accidents in Post-pandemic Laos
Founder of Vientiane’s volunteer emergency service, Sebastien Perret, discusses Vientiane Rescue’s operations amid the continued problem of road accidents.
Advancing to the Next Phase: PandaiSuite Commences Phase II Development
PandaiMind, a patent-protected solution, intends to improve training and learning neural networks while leveraging learner profile-driven training and course design improvement. PandaiKM, another ground-breaking feature, aims to offer comprehensive knowledge management and course recommendations, as well as an AI-enabled career path training planner to help users identify relevant courses for their career goals. The next phase also sees the rollout of PandaiHR, which is designed to bridge the gap between SME/Enterprise and Training Providers (TPs) while enabling learners to acquire relevant skills through AI-enabled training. The final advanced addition to PandaiSuite Phase II includes PandaiNetwork, which seeks to facilitate networking between learners and trainers, creating a community based on learning and development. Together, these improvements will provide a more effective learning management system while enhancing the inclusive learning experience for users.
The new additions of PandaiSuite Phase II are projected to bolster the existing components of PandaiSuite Phase I, which include PandaiCore, PandaiCart, PandaiCampus, and PandaiCorner. This first phase laid the framework for PandaiSuite to be an online course platform that offers learners the flexibility to personalise their learning journey. Designed to cater to corporate training providers and individual learners looking to enhance their skill set and knowledge base, the current platform allows users to select from various short courses, monitor their progress, and take relevant tests. It also enables users to learn at their own speed, offering access to professional trainers attached to the platform and allowing learners to achieve their goals regardless of their prior knowledge or skills.
With its proposed action plans, PandaiSuite has been selected to participate in the innovSpur Programme, which supports the advancement and early adoption of viable learning innovations for EdTech solutionists. As a result, the platform has been awarded a grant that is projected to support the implementation of PandaiSuite Phase II and its next steps of development.
Through its participation in the innovSpur Programme, PandaiSuite is equipped to benefit from the resources available and thereby has the potential to push its learning initiatives forward. The grant of up to $500,000 or 75% of the project value offered by the programme will allow PandaiSuite to cover a significant portion of the costs associated with scaling up and early adoption. The live-testing support offered in the real market and customer conditions also aim to aid PandaiSuite in understanding their customers better and fine-tuning their product to cater to market needs.
For more information, please visit https://pandaisuite.com/.
Hashtag: #PandaiSuite #Business #Technology
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Laos, South Korea Sign Agreement on Financing Lao Workers Overseas

Laos’ Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and BNK Capital Lao Non-Deposit Taking Microfinance Institution Co., Ltd. (BNK MFI) of the Republic of Korea inked a deal last week to provide financial support for Lao workers to work overseas.