Software Park Alliance launched to prepare for AEC

The move is an attempt by Software Park Thailand, an arm of the National Science and Technology Development Agency, to pool resources with upcountry software parks to promote the development of local software and to create sufficient human resources to prepare Thailand for the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
Software Park Thailand director Thanachart Noomnonda said the AEC would present both opportunities and threats to the Thai software industry. The role of the park is to build awareness among local software businesses and prepare them for the arrival of competitors from the other nine Asean member countries.
The important aspects of the AEC are the much bigger market it will offer – and hence opportunities for local software firms – and the competition it will bring.
It will also bring about a free flow of human resources across the Asean region. Therefore, Thanachart said, Thailand’s software industry would need to develop and upgrade the quality of its human resources with international certifications and specialised education about emerging technologies such as mobile applications and cloud computing.
The alliance is the first attempt of its kind to pool the capability of software parks throughout the country, all of which have different strengths and focus areas. The collaboration aims to help the flow of software-development resources and work, from the centre in Bangkok to and from parks in provincial cities.
It is also envisaged that the flow of software development and jobs will extend to the Asia-Pacific region through Software Park Thailand’s regional network, the Asia Oceania Regional Software Park Alliance.
Thailand Software Park Alliance has four main focuses: virtual offices, technology transfer, business matching and co-branding activities. One of its first benefits will be the development of a database of all software companies in Thailand, as well as a database of services offered by the various software parks. It is hoped this will be a springboard for operators planning to establish new software parks, giving them a jump-start instead of starting from zero.