rooster59 Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 Thai agency to lead transition to digital economy By Asina Pornwasin The Weekend Nation Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, president and CEO of Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa) DEPA aims to make the kingdom an IOT hub of asia, boost digitalisation of Asean bloc AIMING to successfully lead Thailand into a digital economy, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency has set ambitious goals, including the country emerging as the Internet of Things (IoT) hub of Asia within five years, and the agency itself taking the lead in helping Asean countries join the digital economy. Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, president and CEO of Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa), said their goal is to be the leader in driving Thailand’s digital economic development and emerging as the IoT hub of Asia. Depa’s four-year strategic plan to promote the country’s digital economy through 2021 has four main missions – to promote human development, economic development, social development and infrastructure-fund development. Depa was established in 2017 with a Bt280-million budget, along with an ad-hoc budget of Bt1.5 billion to drive the digital economy under the government’s Thailand 4.0 strategic plan. Its 2019 budget will also get an infusion of Bt1.2 billion to oversee the World Expo and to run the agency’s routine projects. “Each initiative and project that Depa funds [is chosen] to stimulate digital economic development in the ecosystem,” explained Nuttapon. “We do not just invest money, we also join in the development, give advice and assistance and create and expand the market.” Nurturing talent Driving development of the digital economy first requires digital human resources, Nuttapon said, and Depa aims to help nurture the digital talents of up to 100,000 people within four years. To achieve the goal, it has initiated four schemes – Coding Thailand, technology certification, scholarships and digital literacy. Coding Thailand is a collaboration between Depa and tech giants including Microsoft, Google, and Cisco to develop coding curriculum and encourage Thais to learn coding at codingthailand.org. Depa has joined hands with 2,000 pilot schools nationwide to encourage around 200 students at each school to learn coding with the aim of 400,000 students learning the future-oriented digital language. Depa has also joined hands with tech giants and universities to encourage students to get certified in special areas of technology, such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. It aims to certify 4,000 students from 10 universities. Moreover, Depa will offer scholarship for multidisciplinary mechatronics engineering innovators working on projects that address the painful points of businesses. Depa will join hands with universities and the private sector to provide funds worth up to Bt1 million for each new mechatronics engineering project. Depa will invest 60 per cent of the scholarship grant, with the private sector putting up the remaining 40 per cent for each project. Last, but not least, is nationwide digital literacy training. The agency will work with tech firms, including Google and local startups, to establish a self-learning platform so people can increase their digital literacy on their own, anywhere and at any time. Seeding and accelerating Economic development is a crucial part of Depa’s mission to develop a digital economy. The agency will support startups and other businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SME) and factories. Depa’s support for startups will begin at the startup idea stage, continue through the vulnerable early-stage and then on to the growth stage, Nuttapon said. Seed money of Bt50,000 will be spread among startup proposals, with the goal of seeding 4,000 ideas. Depa has invited venture capitalists and corporate capital ventures to sit as judges for startup pitches. Solid startup proposals will receive Bt1 million from Depa – Bt300,000 as a grant and Bt700,000 as investment. Depa will in turn take 25 per cent of the Bt700,000 in shares. The main evaluation criteria at this stage are innovation, scalability and repeatability. Depa aims to invest in 20 early-stage startups, and has done so with five so far. Growth-stage startups are also in Depa’s support plan. The agency will inject Bt5 million in startups whose pitches succeed in meeting those same three criteria, and will hold 50-per-cent of the shares. It has so far invested in two growth-stage startups and plans to invest in another five. “We are not only giving them money, but will also accelerate them and connect them to the world market through collaboration between Depa, government and the private sector in each country,” Nuttapon said. He cited examples of Tripple i in Taiwan, Trust Holdings in China, TechStar in Singapore, CyberPort in Hong Kong, as well as Cisco in the United States and Israel. In addition to helping startups, Depa has also focused on helping the real sector (the manufacturing and industrial economy but not services), both SMEs and manufacturers. It plans to help 1,000 SMEs through digital transformation with the help of startups in Depa’s list and with a grant of Bt10,000 each. Meanwhile, larger manufacturers will get a Bt1-million grant to help with their digital transformations that draw on the solutions of startups. Last but not least, it is to help attain Thailand emergence as the IoT hub of Asia over the next five years. Nuttapon said, after setting up an IoT institute, Depa plans to spearhead an IoT Innovation Centre, to be located in Digital Park Thailand in the Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation (EECD). That centre would include facilities for research and development across the new “S-curve” industries such as IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), data analytics and mathematics. It will also offer the IoT testing standard and provide space for developing prototypes. “It will be the turning point of digital economy development for the country,” Nuttapon predicts. “It will enhance the power of digital services and hardware makers by adding in the value of the design stage in order to create new products and service.” From local to Asean-wide Society’s digital economy development is an another important focus. Depa encourages communities nationwide to join hands with startups to create a local community digital-economy project focused on tourism, agriculture or local business. Subsidies of Bt500,000 are available. To spur social digital-economy development, Depa will inject money into infrastructure projects that draw on digital technologies to enhance social infrastructure in smart cities. Currently, there are seven smart cities including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Phuket, Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao. Depa will provide budgets ranging from Bt5 million to Bt50 million for each social infrastructure project. The initial focus will be on projects in three smart cities – Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao. Potential projects could include smart mobility, smart port, smart living, smart farming and smart environment. Funding could be paid back to Depa within three years or 49 per cent of shares could be transferred to the agency. “Our role in promoting the digital economy is to be a co-creator, co-investor and co-partner with our stakeholders, including people, businesses, communities and society. We play the role of facilitator and ‘angel investor’ for them,” Nattapon summed up. Finally, Depa aims to lead in helping Asean countries move towards developing the digital economy. They will initiate the Asean Smart City Network in 2019 as a key step in paving the way for all Asean countries to work together to develop a regional digital economy. Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Startup_and_IT/30354496 -- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thian Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 I wonder how long it takes before they start using chinese technology and computers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCC1701A Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 49 minutes ago, rooster59 said: Microsoft, Google, and Cisco to develop coding curriculum and encourage Thais to learn coding at codingthailand.org. so I go to codingthailand.org expecting to see, I don't know, maybe some kids with computers. here is the front page: (at least they are not excluding women otherwise nothing would get done.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesofa Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 22 minutes ago, Thian said: I wonder how long it takes before they start using chinese technology and computers. They have Chinese technology already - I've seen a lot using an abacus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadbury Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 1 hour ago, rooster59 said: Thai agency to lead transition to digital economy Thailand is already leading the way in the digital economy. Scam artists and assorted thieves are have long transitioned themselves to steal money from gullible people, hacked into supposedly secure databases and stolen personal information, laundered money, practiced identity theft, phishing, online marketing scams, and online intellectual property theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thian Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 Thailand IOT.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesofa Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 2 minutes ago, Thian said: Thailand IOT.... I remember that. Ideal for small children too - assuming they haven't been left forgotten for hours on end inside the school minibus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaltsc Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 "DEPA aims to make the kingdom an IOT hub of asia, boost digitalisation of Asean bloc..." I don't see any problem with that...As long as the numbers don't go past "20"...or "10" if they are wearing shoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain150 Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 Until they teach people how to write code, AI has long taken over all coding !!! Just plain and simple UN Propaganda ... none of this comes from Thailand - it's a world wide project Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowboat Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 8 hours ago, rooster59 said: AIMING to successfully lead Thailand into a digital economy, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency has set ambitious goals, including the country emerging as the Internet of Things (IoT) hub of Asia within five years, a Thailand will not even be a spoke let alone a hub. IoT has made inroads in home automation, not anywhere else. Good luck competing with China and others in that extremely cost competitive market. They should just focus on websites that work. Suppose they get raises every time they are quoted using the word "hub" . The article, as always, lacks specifics. Many of the IoT wireless technologies are not even legal in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fex Bluse Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 9 hours ago, rooster59 said: nurture the digital talents of up to 100,000 people within four years I suppose they think coding is easy like "playing computer" (len komputer). As I understand it, learning a coding language is similar to learning a real language. NOT EASY. I wish Thaivisa had a feature to set alarms on threads and resurrect them whenever these government pretty faces make promises. Set a 4 year reminder and pop this thread up so we can see the progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overherebc Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 Throw in some QA manuals as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGW Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 2 hours ago, brain150 said: Just plain and simple UN Propaganda ... none of this comes from Thailand - it's a world wide project Yep! & Thailand doing there part in furthering the agenda, for a trade off no doubt? lenient treatment in other areas. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redline Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 Nonsense with trendy terms. I hope it has at least a small success, but I’m not holding my breath. If they become proficient, they will move where the money is. Nearly every country in the world needs tech expertise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrTuner Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 IoT eh? Recently I wanted to get some RGBW wifi lights. To lazada I go .. ships overseas from China. I reckon that'll be the story in this one too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrTuner Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 On 9/15/2018 at 6:06 PM, Fex Bluse said: As I understand it, learning a coding language is similar to learning a real language. NOT EASY. It's fairly easy to add new ones once you've mastered one. Say like C->C++->Java->C# and so on. Not the case with languages, they aren't usually as closely related. Still learning the first one means being able to handle logic. Mai dai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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