· Maintaining social distancing, AP Thailand elevates its best real estate internship program, AP OPEN HOUSE 2021, promoting the DESIGN FOR LIVING concept to cultivate new creative thinkers, equipping them with reskilling skills through an in-depth learning platform, a full-scale Virtual Class, with close coaching from top experts at AP.
· Recently, five awards were presented to outstanding students who showcased innovative product and service design ideas to enhance living standards in response to the COVID era.

With impressive success, AP (Thailand) Public Company Limited, a leader in real estate development, continues its mission of 'EMPOWER LIVING' with the AP OPEN HOUSE 2021 project for the sixth consecutive year, nurturing new creative thinkers for Thailand. The program aims to empower students with reskilling skills, preparing them to face the era of change by delving into every step of skills, knowledge, and potential, enabling them to enter the real estate business with quality. As the first in the industry to elevate the real estate internship program under the Design for Living concept, the program includes in-depth coaching through a fully virtual class over two months, ensuring that real estate education can be conducted safely without interruption due to the COVID crisis. This time, 25 students were selected from over 1,000 applicants from 67 higher education institutions nationwide.

Recently, AP held a Virtual Award Ceremony to present certificates to the 25 new creative thinkers and announced the results of five outstanding competitors in both team and individual categories.

Ms. Tippawan Sirikun, Assistant Director of Human Resources at AP (Thailand) Public Company Limited, stated, "As a real estate development business, AP places great importance on creating quality personnel to support the continuous growth of the real estate industry through the AP OPEN HOUSE project, now in its sixth year. For this DESIGN FOR LIVING program, AP aims to empower students to become new creative thinkers ready to enter the real estate sector. Creating quality personnel who can innovate products and services to meet the needs of customers is crucial, especially in the current Next Normal lifestyle. It is essential for personnel in the real estate sector to identify and decode the Unmet Needs that customers are looking for amidst the ongoing changes, leading to innovative solutions to address customer pain points and enhance their living experiences effectively."


Ms. Tippawan Sirikun, Assistant Director of Human Resources at AP (Thailand) Public Company Limited

"Although the COVID-19 crisis is still ongoing, AP views this as another challenge. The creation of quality personnel, especially among the youth entering the industry, is as important as sustaining a business that cannot afford to pause. This led to the elevation of the AP OPEN HOUSE 2021 project, promoting the DESIGN FOR LIVING concept to adapt to the changing era, being the first in the industry to conduct a 100% virtual internship program over two months. This program maintains the intensity of content, knowledge, reskilling, and life skills, along with real working processes in a new way, with a well-designed evaluation criteria for both group and individual work, as well as close mentoring from AP executives and leading partners from various fields," Ms. Tippawan added.

The AP OPEN HOUSE 2021 DESIGN FOR LIVING program opened applications for students in February 2021 and underwent a rigorous selection process, resulting in 25 participants (from over 1,000 applicants from 67 higher education institutions) who learned through Virtual Classes for two months under the guidance of expert mentors from AP, including marketers and designers, to enhance their potential as professional thinkers and developers. The program included comprehensive knowledge through four main classes, starting with Design Thinking from the Stanford Center for Professional Development, taught by YourNextU by SEAC, the only company in Thailand licensed to teach Design Thinking, an original course from Stanford University, the world's number one university in innovation, helping participants discover Unmet Needs and understand the Living Experience that customers seek, along with receiving a certificate from Stanford University. Additionally, participants gained insights into trends, updated knowledge, and understanding of future trend creation and concepts, enabling them to become real marketers who understand the processes of thinking and innovating new solutions. The AP OneClickNewHome virtual project tour featured project sales tools suitable for the Next Normal era, and deep insights into target customer data through digital marketing tools, laying the groundwork for developing housing innovations. The final project challenged participants under the DESIGN FOR LIVING concept to adapt to the changes brought about by COVID-19, allowing competitors to showcase their creativity in designing innovative products and services to enhance living standards. The project "Khun Wan Chatbot" won the first-place award in the group category, and certificates were awarded at the AP OPEN HOUSE CONTEST 2021 Virtual Ceremony.

Ms. Jirachaya Boonmak, a student from Srinakharinwirot University, the representative winner in the group category, shared, "Khun Wan Chatbot is a concept for creating a platform that acts as a personal assistant for managing the time of urban dwellers, especially during the Work from Home period when work schedules often overlap with personal time. This is particularly relevant for young urbanites living alone in condominiums, who may face burnout leading to stress and depression. The idea behind Khun Wan Chatbot is that AI will assist in calculating the available days and times that match between customers and their friends, enabling virtual meetups even while maintaining social distancing. Analyzing the data from the sample group about meeting friends or family, even in a virtual format, helps alleviate fatigue and loneliness, fostering positive interactions among people. The AI's ability to calculate free time makes scheduling easier and more likely to happen, eliminating the hassle of finding a common free day with friends. Our group conducted several trials until we finally developed the current prototype of Khun Wan that meets user needs and can be further developed in the future."

Mr. Pawaret Tevahasukulthong from Chulalongkorn University, the first-place winner in the individual category, stated, "The AP OPEN HOUSE DESIGN FOR LIVING program provided opportunities and experiences that cannot be found elsewhere. It was a learning experience about marketing trends and innovation creation that will elevate living standards in new ways. After completing the program, I gained a clearer understanding of the real estate working system, from concept to execution. Importantly, I had the chance to learn in-depth about the Design Thinking process through hands-on experience, which helped me understand customer needs deeply. I believe this knowledge can be applied in my personal life, studies, and future work. I would like to thank AP, the mentors, and all the coaches for organizing such a great program, as well as for their care and attention to all participants. Lastly, I also gained valuable networking opportunities with classmates. This entire experience has been incredibly valuable for me and my peers, and I hope such great programs continue to be organized."

AP Thailand, under the mission of 'EMPOWER LIVING', aims to deliver a quality of life that customers can choose.