First draft to be announced in October

The ministry says it is also cooperating with the private sector to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to support the move towards a “digital economy” and facilitate long-term growth of the economy.

ICT Minister Uttama Savanayana said the five-year plan would comprise six categories: hard infrastructure such as nationwide broadband; soft infrastructure such as standards and regulations; public services for Thai citizens; use of digital technology to improve the economy; use of technology to improve society and quality of life; and a digital workforce. 

“The new National Digital Economy Master Plan will utilise information technology to support and boost small and medium-sized enterprises, create new start-ups and utilise IT in order to improve the quality of life for Thai people as a whole. 

“The master plan will also utilise IT in order to enhance productivity and develop human resources and … create new business and new innovation,” said the minister.

The ICT Ministry is working with the Commerce and Finance ministries to develop e-payment gateways to support SMEs and boost online business by the end of this year.

The ICT Ministry is also working with Intel Microelectronics (Thailand), the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), the Software Industry Promotion Agency and the Electronic Transactions Develop-ment Agency to provide “entrepreneur basic” (E-Basic) training to support around 12,000 SMEs by the end of the year. 

Uttama said the E-Basic project would help SMEs use innovation and knowledge to drive their own growth and that of the economy.

Sontiya Nujeenseng, country manager of Intel Microelectronics (Thailand), said the corporation would provide E-Basic courses to help develop knowledge for entrepreneurs nationwide. Intel expects to enable 12,000 SMEs to provide their products and services in the e-commerce system within three months. 

“I think that the three-month project will provide knowledge and enable SMEs to enter online or |e-commerce business. The firm will also [collaborate with] IT business partners such as HP, Asus, Microsoft and Lenovo to provide special offers to SMEs that want to purchase hardware to support their business,” Sontiya said.

FTI chairman Supant Mongko-lsuthee said the federation would help to strengthen the productivity of SMEs so they would be able to utilise IT to drive the digital economy and make the country more competitive. 

The project will prepare around 240 trainers to provide instruction to around 12,000 SMEs within the next three months.

Jamrus Sawangsamut, executive director of the FTI, said the federation would provide an e-marketplace via www.ftiebussiness.|com designed for around 6,000 SME operators that pass the E-Basic course to provide their products and services via the website. |The FTI then will create a value chain in the e-commerce ecosystem between big buyers who want |to source products from SMEs via this e-marketplace.