According to a recent press release, representatives from the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) (Digital), the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) and a major multinational tech company gathered to sign a memorandum of cooperation which makes provisions for the exchange of knowledge and expertise in related technologies.
The agreement was signed in order to support the important roadmap of the country in pushing Digital Smart City because it is the issue that countries in ASEAN are paying attention to.
The Smart City initiatives are important because they require various departments to work together to develop and maintain the necessary digital and technological infrastructure necessary for a digital state.
This includes addressing and rectifying issues in cybersecurity and other issues related to the cyber space in order to integrate important issues from the design process from the beginning.
This, in turn, has led to the collaboration between the three major agencies in the region, namely ETDA, Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) and the tech firm (a company that consists of a group of businesses that are unique in developing the necessary and important infrastructure to create a digital future for business and government organizations).
The tech firm will help in both modifying the format of the IT system as well as providing data protection for the systems.
The signing of this memorandum of cooperation will link all the important technologies that are necessary to support the country’s digital promotion policy under Thailand 4.0.
This will be done by cooperation through both academic exchanges and technical assistance, thereby using the technologies to support the economic development of Thailand.
Benefits of these technologies include increased competitiveness, a more skilled workforce as well as a more safe and secure citizen population.
The tech firm, equipped with expertise in critical infrastructure for both public and private organizations, will help to push digital agendas in the future boosting the efficiency and effectiveness of governmental operations.
The Director of the ETDA stated that the ETDA has operations that meet government policies and is ready to contribute to the cooperation between agencies on exchange of experiences and perspectives including personnel development and data analysis.
The agency shares the goal of supporting the digital roadmap and national security in order to truly push the Digital Smart City initiatives to turn the nation in a digital society.
It is hoped that this partnership, in addition to jointly developing a digital authentication and verification system for online transaction services, will help make electronic transactions faster, more convenient and more efficient.
This push will consist of the design of better digital infrastructure and cybersecurity systems for the country wherein all three agencies will share knowledge and exchange experiences with each other.
The Director of DEPA noted that this agreement will leverage modern technology and innovation to increase the efficiency of services city management as well as reducing reduce costs and resource consumption by focusing on the collaboration of the business sector and the public sector in developing the digital nation.
The aim is to establish a country wherein all the citizens live happily, sustainably, and smartly in terms of trade, investment while simultaneously enabling digital industry to drive other industries to grow.
A project similar to this has been fully operational in Phuket and will enable the economy to grow by at least 4.5% every year in the next 5 years.
Currently, the Phuket Smart City projects have developed in many aspects.
For example the city is working on implementing a multi-dimensional project to drive Phuket into a Smart City including setting up the Phuket Center of Digital Excellence Phuket to establish support for digital workers or digital content companies to work or invest in Thailand.
The government is also working to expand these results into six more intelligent city projects, including in Bangkok, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai and EEC, according to the Intelligent City Development Committee.
