IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Supported by Korean Funds-in-Trust, this project spanned seven countries, namely Malaysia, The Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and China.

Industry analysts agree the premier is likely to pay more attention to national information and communication technology (ICT) policy because of her experience in the telecom field.

Ms Yingluck has served as president of Advanced Info Service, founded by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who is also her elder brother.

The Thai Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) wants to encourage governments and organizations to start using open source software for server communication applications and for desktop office productivity applications, and to migrate to other applications later.

Speaking recently at the ICT SME Summit 2007, Abhisit said human resource development was also a top priority and the party would put more focus on ICT education initiatives.

The EGA’s president and chief executive officer, Sak Segkhoonthod, told the Nation that his agency specifically wants departments such as the ministries of Labour, Public Health and Education, to get on to the online system because these ministries have a lot of services.

The aim of the initiative is to provide an easy means for the general public to find information and use smart ID cards to do transactions with the government.

“City life has made visiting hospitals difficult for some people due to traffic congestion and busy works. Hospitals need to develop a new approach to deliver healthcare service to the patients at this era,” said Dr Somsiri Sakolsatayadorn, Managing Director and CEO of Samitivej Group.

Dr Sak Segkoonthod, president and CEO of the EGA revealed early this week that his agency will deploy telepresence services at the Parliament and ten other government agencies within this year following the national implementation of cloud computing this month.

“Telepresence might be launched at the Parliament first for government organizations to defend their annual budgets without needing to come to the Parliament,” he said.

The Immigration Bureau of Thailand has told lawmakers that it is currently working to increase the database capacity of its biometric system used for immigration controls.

The system currently in use has a capacity of 50 million entries which is already exhausted and the Bureau has now resorted to manual checks for travellers while the capacity upgrade is being done, The Nation Thailand reports.

At a recent Asean and China mayoral conference held in Nanning, Guangxi province, one of us (LHM) presented the concept of smart cities and its importance for Asean.

It generated much interest from the audience, among which was former Thai deputy prime minister Korn Dabbaransi. Korn noted the significance of smart-city thinking for Thailand’s burgeoning urban areas, such as Chiang Mai.

Thailand is making great strides towards complete digitalisation, taking it on the verge of being an Asian digital behemoth, according to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence (AI), e-payment and cutting-edge technology are all but part of the daily realities for most of those who live in the country. With a strong industrial policy that favours digitalisation, Thailand is on the cusp of becoming the next Asian digital behemoth through its adoption of the 4.0 digital revolution,” the ministry said in a media statement.

Rankings intended to raise awareness and spur innovation

Phuket has been ranked as the top province-based smart city, while the Wang Chan Valley in Rayong province was named the leading city-based smart area in the country, according to the Thailand Smart City Competitiveness Index 2023.

The index assessed 30 cities in 23 provinces to raise awareness among leaders and residents about the progress, strengths and weaknesses of smart city development, according to the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa).

“It turns out during the last two years, we have saved THB 600 million (US$18.8 million). I would say [this is] at least 30% reduction in costs,” he said.

In order to develop secure online services nationwide, Thailand’s Electronic Transactions Development Agency has deployed Gemalto’s LinqUs Mobile ID solution.

ETDA is a public organization, part of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Royal Thai Government, Kingdom of Thailand. The solution will allow mobile users to perform any online transaction on the go, with the highest levels of security and convenience. They will be able to access internet banking, confirm payments, and digitally sign documents for sensitive activities such as online loan applications or account updates, by simply entering a PIN on their mobiles. Complete development will be followed by nationwide rollout, enabling a rich array of secured services for 86 million subscribers, to drive the country's Digital Economy plans.

The government’s smart city committee has listed 15 additional places for Smart City development, where some 20 billion baht in private investment is expected to help improve the livelihoods of villagers.

Thailand’s Smart City Steering Committee has designated 15 more locations across 14 provinces for Smart City development, bringing the total number of Smart City campaigns across the country to 30 locations in 23 provinces.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) plans to come up with a private digital company to support the country’s digital transformation in the next 6 months. The key missions of this company are to develop digital infrastructure for tourism, create big data for the industry, and launch utility tokens under ‘TAT Coin’ or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that cannot be used for trading.

With a goal of generating approximately 2.4 trillion baht from high-spending travelers by 2023, TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said the authority would be limited to a 40% share so it would not be considered a state enterprise. While another 40% share of ownership will be held by strategic partners in digital fields, and another 20% will be shared by key tourism associations.

Thailand is set to launch an ambitious digital roadmap that will propel its digital industry forward, empower workers and position it at the forefront of the global digital revolution.

The strategic plan comprising eight projects under the “Digital Infinity” concept is being launched jointly by the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry and the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa).

A group of IT professionals have opened a research center for information and communication technology (ICT) in Thailand to aid the country's ICT masterplan, Smart Thailand.