Think-tank warns that neighbouring countries are pulling ahead of Thailand
TONY WALTHAM
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| TDRI research director Somkiat Tangkitvanich |
Oracle regional MD Natasak Rodjanapiches |
Strat-etech Consulting director Dion Wiggins |
The Government needs to take prompt and decisive action to stimulate and guide the growth of ICT in Thailand to ensure the long-term prosperity of the country - although the IT industry shouldn't collectively hold its breath and there are things that businesses can do to help as well.
This is the message from a new "think-tank" composed of Thai and expatriate ICT professionals called ICT Forward, which yesterday released a 35-page document highlighting the 10 key issues facing ICT in Thailand.
The Government should urgently adopt a policy and incentives that encourage skilled foreign ICT professionals to come and work here to help transfer skills to Thais in key areas; seek ways to stimulate more venture capital to foster innovation; make radical changes to the educational system; and revise inadequate laws and draft new ones so that the legal system conforms to international standards.
The think-tank also urges that a workshop be convened to bring all interested parties in the telecommunications sector together to explore impediments to Thailand's telecom environment and proposes that new government agencies be set up to oversee e-government and ICT governance.
The paper calls on the ICT industry to look more to the export market and suggests the government identify one or two ICT competencies that the country should specialise in, and then let this be known internationally.
ICT Forward, whose goal is to act as a catalyst for the growth of ICT in Thailand leading to wealth creation, is comprised of NSTDA assistant president Dr Rom Hiranpruk, Oracle regional managing director Natasak Rodjanapiches, Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) research director Dr Somkiat Tangkitvanich, Strat-etech Consulting director Dion Wiggins, Asia Online director Bob Hayward and HNP Legal Counsellors director Gregory Binger.
The proposals released this week are entitled the "Top Ten Recommendations for the Thai ICT Industry." The thinktank observed that as Thailand undergoes a period of immense change "there is a real risk that many of the opportunities of the ICT revolution will be overlooked and that other Asian nations will pull ahead of Thailand in their ICT development."
Indeed, Thailand's neighbouring countries, particularly Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, are frequently cited as examples where their policies, such as around promoting investment capital for ICT ventures or encouraging expartiate IT professionals to work there, have been successful by way of contrast.
A dearth of investment capital available to ICT companies in Thailand is pinpointed. More than US$1 billion was invested in equity funding into technology ventures in Malaysia last year, and the paper notes that this was over 100 times more than in Thailand for the same period.
"Even Vietnam today has far more investment money for the local ICT community than Thailand has. Are Malaysians and Vietnamese more entrepreneurial in ICT than Thais? No, but they have access to funds, whereas Thais do not. This is a national tragedy," it says; on this topic it concludes: "Currently, Thailand is simply not in the game, and this will cause irreparable harm to the economic fortune of all Thais unless this issue is resolved."
A fundamental shortcoming for Thailand around ICT is a shortage of skilled professionals, which is compounded by an education system said to be in need of "radical change" where "many elements of education are in urgent need of attention and reform" if the country is going to reach its potential.
The approach adopted successfully in Singapore a decade ago of using incentives to attract skilled foreign ICT workers should be applied here, the ICT Forward paper argues, urging the government to be pragmatic and to focus on areas where ICT professionals were needed the most.
By importing expertise, there would be a transfer of skills and knowledge with on-the-job training for Thais, which was low-risk compared with training someone overseas, while offering the advantage of importing the knowledge of foreign markets, the paper said. The government should offer incentives to employers who have a skills transfer programme, ICT Forward added.
Singled out for strong criticism were Thai ICT companies that have lobbied for the setting up of local Thai standards where an international standard already exists, noting that this was usually a protectionist move that is counter-productive and would only benefit a few and at the expense of the industry and ICT users.
The Thai Quality Standard (TQS) is cited as an example here, when there is the internationally-recognised and accepted Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) standard from Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute, including trained CMMI assessors here in Thailand.
"The adoption of a local standard when there is a highly-regarded and recognised international one also makes a clear statement to the outside world that is in contrast to its intent and which says that 'Thai companies are not good enough to get CMM and that a more-capable market should be considered for their needs instead'," the think-tank observes in its paper.
When it comes to the "mess" that is the Thai telecommunications industry today, ICT Forward looks ahead and proposes conducting an open and transparent workshop that will grow the market and make it much larger, providing opportunities that would outweigh any setbacks that the changes might impose on some of the players.
"The aim should be to grow the telecommunications pie to be so much larger and so much faster through development, that any one of the current players that may be disadvantaged over the short-term can see the ultimate benefit of the new opportunities," the paper suggests.
Another area needing attention is that of ICT laws, which need to conform to international standards and this requires the amendment of some existing laws that are inadequate as well as new legislation. This should be coupled with a stronger enforcement of IP rights, the think-tank's paper proposes.
The paper also suggests that the government can learn from other nations' experiences around e-government. However, the onus was not put entirely on the government and the paper urges the private sector to debate how the industry can best help itself, although it adds that lobbying and influencing policy makers should continue, "perhaps even with renewed vigor, given the gravity of the situation of the ICT sector in Thailand today."
"Top Ten Recommendations for the Thai ICT Industry" is a free download at http://www.asiaonline.net/blogs/ictforward.
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