Issue 36

The internet has transformed many people’s lives, now the Thai government is providing incentives to develop a digital economy through the Internet of Things.

Thailand is supporting the development of the Internet of Things (IOT) with strong public and private sector initiatives underway, the NEPCON Forum in Bangkok heard late June. Government support is at two levels. Firstly there is a plan to ensure a large domestic market. This will be done by ensuring every household in every region of the country is connected via a nationwide cyberoptic cable system.

It is not just the hardware but software, such as data protection and e-commerce legislation, which will help create a digital economy, Ajarin Pattanapanchai, Senior Executive Investment Advisor with the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) said, pointing out that Thailand was working on appropriate laws. “We will encourage large scale cloud computing for both the public and private sector,” she added; a move she branded as “revolutionary.”

The second level is creating within Thailand a high-tech, Internet of Things manufacturing base via the broad use of incentives. “This signals our strong support and intention to make Thailand a centre of e-design,” Pattanapanchai said. The incentives on offer are mouthwatering ranging from eight-year corporate tax breaks to import duties and the right to own land. “We are ready to serve you,” Pattanapanchai added.

Supplementing this is another initiative, tellingly a joint one between the public and private sectors, to tackle the shortage of skilled IOT labour. “Where are the e-engineers?” was an off-stage refrain at the event; a question that both industry and government are working to answer. A key part of this is Thailand Electronic Design for Industry, TEDI, a cuddly name for a body that will be a hard hitter in dealing with labour shortages in this specialist field.

What TEDI does is join together the government, academic institutes, industry and students as partners to sort out those problems. It is particularly good for industry which can “just say what they want” according to a representative of the Thai Embedded Systems Association (TESA). But it is also good for students who work on specific projects to show their capabilities, which, according to TESA, are “a lot.”

TEDI is now gearing up for its second phase which will involve more educational establishments. “We hope we can have more and more engineers, the qualified ones for the demand side,” said TESA.

Silicon Craft, which made its name using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for animal identification in Australia, is one to watch in this area. “Intelligence and innovation, this is a large part of our identity,” said its CEO, Manop Thamsirianunt. “With this passion, we will continue to deliver high performance state-of-the-art products to our customers. We are moving forward to lifestyle products”.

Another company to watch for is ThaiGerTec, a full solution provider for embedded systems development in the car industry. ThaiGerTec focuses on supporting European as well as Asian car companies with systems allowing cars to communicate with each other and with infrastructure.

“I am happy we do R+D in Thailand” said Markus Waidelich, CEO of ThaiGerTec. “I would like to see more competition (especially international) to push people.” Among the car companies who are already working in Thailand is BMW, according to Waidelich. Not to be outflanked Japan’s Big Three car manufacturers are also known to be doing some research here. With a precedent like that who can afford not to be? Who’s next?
                                                                                            
Words by Michael Mackey