MDES Initiates Digital Technology Adoption Projects in 4 Central Plains Provinces;
depa Aims to Develop Livable Cities in 300 Communities Nationwide for Better Quality of Life of People
[/b]
The Minister of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) assigned the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) to speed up adoption of digital technology and innovation and the use of digital solutions to drive development of local communities across Thailand, aimed at improving the quality of life of people in rural and remote areas. The adoption of digital solutions will help solve problems and enhance efficient community enterprise management. The adoption of digital technology and solutions will be piloted in four provinces in the Central Plains region in order to create livable cities that can deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. depa also sets a target to develop more livable cities through adoption of digital technology, innovation and digital solutions in 300 communities across the country.
H.E. Mr. Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, Minister of Digital Economy and Society (MDES), said the ministry has continued to develop and improve digital infrastructure across the country with a goal to provide all people in the grassroots economy with greater access to digital technologies and solutions. The ministry also assigned the depa to gear up decentralizing development of communities and villages in remote areas through digital-driven promotion and adoption of digital technologies and innovations so that people will be able to access digital technologies and digital solutions provided by trustworthy digital startups. The pilot digital-based development program will take place in four provinces in the Central Plains region; Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya and Suphanburi. All provincial governors and relevant agencies pledged full support and cooperation.
“This collaboration is potentially a significant starting point to promote people in rural areas and underserved communities to be able to get access to digital technologies and innovations as well as adopting and leveraging digital solutions to solve problems regarding the community business management, cost reduction, increasing sales volume, efficient production management. It also includes improving the quality of life of the local people to be ready for post-pandemic development of livable cities. Over the past four years, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and the depa have committed to steering digital-driven development of livable cities to cover 300 communities nationwide. In addition, the depa has continued to support more than 900 development projects in multiple aspects that received funding support under the depa Digital Transformation Fund. They potentially generated an economic value of more than 20 billion baht,” said the minister.
Dr. Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, President/CEO of depa, said the depa approved 22 development projects that applied for promotion and support under the depa Digital Transformation Fund for Community in the first six months of this year. They are located in communities in the Central Plains region and the depa has plans to provide support to other development projects in some other adjacent provinces. The depa also aims to push for 65 communities across the country to adopt digital technologies and innovations within this year. It is expected to generate more than 115 million baht in economic value.
“Over the years, depa has committed to providing support and encouraging communities to come up with ideas and select the digital technologies that suit the nature of their business activities and purposes such as the Internet of Things (IoT) based technology for farmers, smart livestock farming, IoT technology in process manufacturing, agricultural drones, as well as the use of digital platforms and applications before adopting those digital technologies and solutions for sustainability in the community. It is in alignment with the depa’s vision to enable Thais to “think faster and live better” to pave the way for livable city development for the better quality of life of the public in preparation for the era of digital economy and society,” said the president of depa.
