Software Hub To Be Set Up In Khon Kaen

[george]

Software hub in Khon Kaen

KHON KAEN: -- The Industry Ministry will set up the country's first software industrial estate in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen this year.

"We would like to promote this industrial estate as a high-technology hub in the same way as Silicon Valley in the United States and Bangalore in India," Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Suwit Khunkitti said yesterday.

Suwit's political constituency is in Khon Kaen.

He said the country's software industry has the potential to generate an annual income of Bt50 billion, while the global software industry is estimated to be worth more than Bt25 trillion.

"We still have big room to grow this industry and we welcome all sizes of software operators to set up their business here," he said.

The Industry Ministry earlier eyed a location in one of three regional cities: Khon Kaen in the Northeast, Chiang Mai in the North and Phuket in the South. Khon Kaen was chosen due to its manpower advantage.

The project will lead to collaboration between Khon Kaen University and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand.

The university has offered 300 rai of land to accommodate the estate and will supply a highly skilled workforce to serve the demandsof hi-tech companies.

Suwit said the industrial estate would also provide an attractive deduction of corporate income tax for firms investing in the area.

The minister plans to stage a roadshow with the Board of Investment (BoI) in Japan, Europe and the United States. He said he would meet and persuade giant firms such as IBM and Microsoft to expand their operations in the new estate.

In a seminar entitled "Thailand Investment Year 2008-09" on Thursday, Suwit said the BoI targeted that applications for advanced technology projects in the electrical and electronics industries would surge to Bt80 billion this year.

-- The Nation 2008-04-12

[PeaceBlondie]

I am sorry, but there may not be any more room in Thailand or on ThaiVisa for one more hub. Soon the kingdom will be nothing but hubs, no spokes, no rims, no tyres.

Software design requires highly motivated, iconoclastic thinkers who do not follow all the rules, and who were trained to think outside the box.

[Theyreallrubbish]

I am sorry, but there may not be any more room in Thailand or on ThaiVisa for one more hub. Soon the kingdom will be nothing but hubs, no spokes, no rims, no tyres.

Software design requires highly motivated, iconoclastic thinkers who do not follow all the rules, and who were trained to think outside the box.

All these "hubs" are just scams to get the government to pay for some empty office building in the middle of nowhere.

Anybody been to the "Software Park"? A skyscraper in the middle of nowhere that sold a big chunk of its space to the government because its owner (the owner of Samart.) was connected. Total waste of money and the diversion of resources and civil servant attention held back the development of what little software industry there is.

[Cuban]

The balance of being a nation supporting software development and known for easy availiblity of copied software is an interesting one.

Software design requires highly motivated, iconoclastic thinkers who do not follow all the rules, and who were trained to think outside the box.

Hmmmm.... Thai Logic!

"AND"

"OR"

"MAYBE AFTER SOM TAM"

<If Farang Flag set=1> {then} $PRICE=4 x $PRICE

[john b good]

I am sorry, but there may not be any more room in Thailand or on ThaiVisa for one more hub. Soon the kingdom will be nothing but hubs, no spokes, no rims, no tyres.

Software design requires highly motivated, iconoclastic thinkers who do not follow all the rules, and who were trained to think outside the box.

think outside the box

That's gonna make it very difficult then. They are not taught to think outside the box are they ??

[Prakanong]

So its not Phuket now

Silocon Valley or Bangalore - has the minister ever been to these places?

Bangalore has something like 3 million IT workers and the set up's I have visited there are amazing - I have been to our offshore centre plus WIPRO who we outsource to as well.

Thailand ever having a significant software industry never mind competing with the two above have about as much chance as the proverbial snowflake in hel_l - not going to happen, never ever.

Just look at where companies set up in Asia - its Singapore, China, India and now even Vietnam are getting in on the act - the Thai's are nowhere.

What about the biotech hub they wanted as well - Bwhaaaaaaa

Stick to auto, tourism, rice growing and prostituion - I hear Michael Porter charges 50k USD a day for consultancy regarding "Clusters" - they should get him in

[apetley]

Most can't think outside the plastic bag let alone the box!

[cclub75]

So its not Phuket now

Indeed. You can find many IT experts -highly trained- in all the bars of Phuket.

Sometimes, to be drunk is a real blessing for IT ingineer creativity. Especially in Thailand.

Therefore, another hub... makes sense.

[Shah Jahan]

Stick to auto, tourism, rice growing and prostituion

:D

but really - who would work in this Kon Kean IT hub?

we can import some Bangladeshi's or you could create an artificial ocean there and declare that all forgineers with IT experience have to move to Kon kean or risk getting deported

s

a few weeks ago I met a girl from Thamasat university - nice white skin and long legs - she said she was studying cumputer programming

when I asked her what language's she worked in - she proudly replied English and a little French. (after a little digging I found out that she was learning mySQL)

I have seen the computer programming work of thai workers first hand and I have to admit some are very creative and talented when it comes to graphic design -

but coding....

next thing that are tell us is that thailand is going to be an international call center hub.

[TopDogger]

We were getting one a month a few years ago, been missing the old hubs.. hubbah hubbah

[Gravelrash]

The gov likes to toss out these hubs for local consumption, that have no way to ever achieve reality. There is no long term vision here that I can discern, politics is about making money, not long term positive agendas or plans for the country.

But in all fairness, one hub does come to mind, an a-go-go hub. That is it and probably all there will ever be, with everyone scrambling to cash in on the revenue the girls bring in. Lets forget the PC for a moment and be honest about it.

Thailand - enormous potential and no vision, just catch phrases and short term greed. Make what you can today, let others worry about tomorrow.

[Galong]

Oh please... do they realize how silly they look calling every single thing that they do a HUB?

Thailand has some of the worst English language skills in SE Asia... if not the world. Who is going to buy this stuff? Are they after the Thai market? Good luck if they are. No one is going to pay a reasonable price. This is a country of thieves... they steal from everyone including their own.

I wonder how they'll feel when their software is available at Panthip Plaza for 100 baht

[Bagwan]

Seems that there as many 'hubs' as Big Wheels'.

Excerpt from Guru magazine editorial quoting a dialogue with a first class honours student from one of Thailand's top two universities.

Really smart girl : I was always first in my class but didn't realise how dumb I was until I went to study abroad. It had nothing to do with a language barrier.

Listener : Err ... What was the problem?

Really smart girl : They expected me to think for myself.

Software hub? How about addressing why my 'high speed' line is up and down more frequently than a tart's drawers?

[thaigene2]

Well I'm usually as skeptical if not more than most, but back track a minute...I don't see this guy claiming it's "Thais" who will be doing the creative/coding work, do you? Maybe I missed it. But what I thought it said was the Govt was teamin g up with Khoan Kaen Uni (which had pledged 200 rai or whatever)...so they're just saying they want to attract a high-tech creatives Hub.

Fair enough. Now where I will be critical is to say that under present visa rules, business ownership restrictions and property ownership questions, few foreign entrepreneurs would want to bother with the idea.

HOWEVER - if this govt is forward thinking enough (yeah, yeah - I know) to erase all those other rules by making it some kind of 'special' zone for foreigners to come here, own the companies 100%, bring in as many people as they want from abroad, pay no taxes - except some yearly fee of 1 million - 50 million baht to the govt maybe on basis of number of employees) then that's reasonable isn't it? They could say all support staff have to be Thai or something like to show there is some benefit to the people of KK.

I'd agree that one way to attract these companies and the young creatives is to show off how beautiful some of the woman from Khon Kaen are! (I mean those that are still there..and not in the Go-Go basr of Bkk and PTYA!) and how cheap it is to rent or buy a place (again - if they allow purchase in some special zone).

[Tony Clifton]

As a preventive measure, every hub failure should be permanently tattooed on the responsible Minister`s forehead.

[Khun Jean]

I think it is very easy to create an IT hub in Thailand, even in some remote area.

First step is to open a few hundred bars, get the girls back from pattaya, bangkok or wherever they ply there trade.

Give older IT guys a renewable visa for 5 years if they want to start a business in that area, no taxes for those businesses too, money instead will be collected form the few hundred bars.

There, easy as pie. AND succes guaranteed! (No kidding, it would really work, thats how strange the world is, and o so predictable)

So where do i go to to get get my consultancy fee, i googled it but could not find it, so it cannot exists?

[Thai at Heart]

Software hub in Khon Kaen

KHON KAEN: -- The Industry Ministry will set up the country's first software industrial estate in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen this year.

"We would like to promote this industrial estate as a high-technology hub in the same way as Silicon Valley in the United States and Bangalore in India," Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Suwit Khunkitti said yesterday.

Suwit's political constituency is in Khon Kaen.

He said the country's software industry has the potential to generate an annual income of Bt50 billion, while the global software industry is estimated to be worth more than Bt25 trillion.

"We still have big room to grow this industry and we welcome all sizes of software operators to set up their business here," he said.

The Industry Ministry earlier eyed a location in one of three regional cities: Khon Kaen in the Northeast, Chiang Mai in the North and Phuket in the South. Khon Kaen was chosen due to its manpower advantage.

The project will lead to collaboration between Khon Kaen University and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand.

The university has offered 300 rai of land to accommodate the estate and will supply a highly skilled workforce to serve the demandsof hi-tech companies.

Suwit said the industrial estate would also provide an attractive deduction of corporate income tax for firms investing in the area.

The minister plans to stage a roadshow with the Board of Investment (BoI) in Japan, Europe and the United States. He said he would meet and persuade giant firms such as IBM and Microsoft to expand their operations in the new estate.

In a seminar entitled "Thailand Investment Year 2008-09" on Thursday, Suwit said the BoI targeted that applications for advanced technology projects in the electrical and electronics industries would surge to Bt80 billion this year.

-- The Nation 2008-04-12

And for all those foreign investors licking their lips, while they commute from Survanabhumi to Don Meang to get here, please be advised that the internet speed here is about the same as a 56k dialup.

[stevehaigh]

i talked to very sweet girl in Kong Kean who was studying computers about 1 month ago. when i asked what she was doing, she was leaning photoshop.

i worked as a computer programmer in silicon valley for about 20 years and worked with countless, brilliant Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese engineers. never once did i come across a Thai programmer.

also, aren't they a decade or so late on this software idea. even in silicon valley, the real interest is in new ideas like alternative energy and biotechnology. Thailand already has some expertise with alternative energy (palm oil), why not build on that.

Edited April 13, 2008 by stevehaigh

[madmitch]

I thought Thailand already had a thriving software industry. None of it legal but it's certainly thriving.

But where do they get these hub ideas from? How do they expect to create a thriving industry when there is so little to build on?

Or is there a base already that I am unaware of?

[PeaceBlondie]

Scene at dinner table, anywhere in Thailand, tonight:

LEK: Mommy, what is a hub?

MAA: Arai nah?

LEK: Hub, is English word, big puu-yai on TV says Thailand has softwah hub.

SOMCHAI: Pass the somtam, khrap.

BOOM: Little sister is right. Man says we have new hub in Khon Kaen.

MAA: I know hub. Is center of wheel, like mak wheel hub.

SOMCHAI: Puu-yai is baa. This food is very spicy.

LEK: What is softwah?

MAA: Soft means your father's kuay after he drinks whiskey.

SOMCHAI: Your jim is not soft. This sticky rice very sticky.

BOOM: Kojai. Thailand has hub for kuay and jim.

[WAERTH]

Scene at dinner table, anywhere in Thailand, tonight:

LEK: Mommy, what is a hub?

MAA: Arai nah?

LEK: Hub, is English word, big puu-yai on TV says Thailand has softwah hub.

SOMCHAI: Pass the somtam, khrap.

BOOM: Little sister is right. Man says we have new hub in Khon Kaen.

MAA: I know hub. Is center of wheel, like mak wheel hub.

SOMCHAI: Puu-yai is baa. This food is very spicy.

LEK: What is softwah?

MAA: Soft means your father's kuay after he drinks whiskey.

SOMCHAI: Your jim is not soft. This sticky rice very sticky.

BOOM: Kojai. Thailand has hub for kuay and jim.

ROFL ........ kuay nim

Waerth

[Mai Krap]

There are a million jokes to made of this, my favorite is to rename the editors at Bangkok Post and Nation, Hubya, as Hub is not the original word in Thai. It is a fact that the editorial departments of both these newspapers are guilty as helll for making Thailand the Hub of all Hubs but it is the government who is presenting a hubcap as the vehicle to drive Thailand into the future.

No 300 Rai in the world will ever rival Silicon Valley, that is not any kind of goal to set unless your looking for failure. If anyone was interested, and thats a big if, as I do not think anyone is interested. The very first move to bring Thailand into the computer age is to remove Thai Script from all computer keyboards as English is the language of computers. Anything less will just end in another miserable failure, check back in ten years and see.

If they want to set up a area to take software thats already produced and then try to make it usable in Thai Script that is doable but in the end will prove useless, the equivalent of taking a Corvette and replacing the engine with one from that little Indian car they have been showing on the news lately. It would bandage the wound temporarily but in the end is similar to throwing out one bone at the Wat for a hundred dogs, Futile.

Edited April 13, 2008 by Mai Krap

[Lorin]

Scene at dinner table, anywhere in Thailand, tonight:

LEK: Mommy, what is a hub?

MAA: Arai nah?

LEK: Hub, is English word, big puu-yai on TV says Thailand has softwah hub.

SOMCHAI: Pass the somtam, khrap.

BOOM: Little sister is right. Man says we have new hub in Khon Kaen.

MAA: I know hub. Is center of wheel, like mak wheel hub.

SOMCHAI: Puu-yai is baa. This food is very spicy.

LEK: What is softwah?

MAA: Soft means your father's kuay after he drinks whiskey.

SOMCHAI: Your jim is not soft. This sticky rice very sticky.

BOOM: Kojai. Thailand has hub for kuay and jim.

ROFL ........ kuay nim

Waerth

Hahaha, sounds pretty real..

[CL0R0X]

IT hub huh!

well for once can they please give some faster internet than they have now. its quite pathetic compare to neighbor country.

[john b good]

Seems that there as many 'hubs' as Big Wheels'.

Excerpt from Guru magazine editorial quoting a dialogue with a first class honours student from one of Thailand's top two universities.

Really smart girl : I was always first in my class but didn't realise how dumb I was until I went to study abroad. It had nothing to do with a language barrier.

Listener : Err ... What was the problem?

Really smart girl : They expected me to think for myself.

Software hub? How about addressing why my 'high speed' line is up and down more frequently than a tart's drawers?

Forget about them being able to 'think for themselves' (in the next couple of decades)

Just being able to think would be a millennium leap forward.

[Thai at Heart]

Seems that there as many 'hubs' as Big Wheels'.

Excerpt from Guru magazine editorial quoting a dialogue with a first class honours student from one of Thailand's top two universities.

Really smart girl : I was always first in my class but didn't realise how dumb I was until I went to study abroad. It had nothing to do with a language barrier.

Listener : Err ... What was the problem?

Really smart girl : They expected me to think for myself.

Software hub? How about addressing why my 'high speed' line is up and down more frequently than a tart's drawers?

Forget about them being able to 'think for themselves' (in the next couple of decades)

Just being able to think would be a millennium leap forward.

There are plenty of people smart enough to create a software programming centre in Thailand. Why on earth they would choose KKC is absolutely beyond me. Do they honestly think that any right minded decent programmer wants to live up here on chump change.

Anyone decent it off to Singapore on 10 times the salary. No one wants to program for the pooyai, it is too valuable an ability to fritter away for 20k per month

[thaigene2]

Well again maybe this is a waste of time (I'm not sure of the original idea) - but IF they mean INTERNATIONAL staff moving here, then that's ok isn't it?

[john b good]

Well again maybe this is a waste of time (I'm not sure of the original idea) - but IF they mean INTERNATIONAL staff moving here, then that's ok isn't it?

I don't really think that they have INTERNATIONAL staff in mind.

In the outside world (outside the realm) one can make (if you are any good at all) a minimum of 10 - 12 million baht a year. Do you think that a person able to command that sort of dosh is gonna come here and work for beer money.

[Shah Jahan]

I don't really think that they have INTERNATIONAL staff in mind.

In the outside world (outside the realm) one can make (if you are any good at all) a minimum of 10 - 12 million baht a year. Do you think that a person able to command that sort of dosh is gonna come here and work for beer money.

well actually i have found that beer money plus a set of nice legs will do the trick for most.

[Cuban]

...but IF they mean INTERNATIONAL staff moving here, then that's ok isn't it?

Labor costs of international software writers? I would expect this is just going to be a coding house, the software idea and design is done elsewhere and the product compiling and testing is done in Thailand, like the Indian model. What well (?) paid software writer would like to live in KK? I'm not knocking the place too much - but once you have had breakfast at the Sofitel and been to the dnosaur park you are ready to move on.

As for it being a 'hub' - indeed much of Thailand is just one big "collision domain" this week.