Phuket and Khon Kaen have been honoured as two of the top smart city projects during 2018 in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) Thailand.
The winning projects, initiated by the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa), illustrated the best practices of urban innovation and the use of technology and data.
Khon Kaen Smart Health won the "public health and social services" category and Phuket Smart Tourism and Living Communities won the "tourism, arts, libraries and open spaces" category.
Both ranking 19th out of 148 smart city projects in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan), Phuket and Khon Kaen are among the city projects initiated by Depa. Both winning projects illustrate the best practices of urban innovation with an ultimate focus on the use of technologies and data such as cloud, platforms, analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile solutions, as well as unique partnerships, funding models and/or community involvement.
An initiative from Depa in cooperation with local healthcare service providers and universities, the Khon Kaen Smart Health project consists of three components:
The smart ambulance, equipped with teleconferencing, IoT and robotics technology, that increases emergency dispatch operation efficiency and enables healthcare professionals to perform initial diagnostic work and emergency treatment before patients arrive at hospitals.
Preventive healthcare service that leverages smart wristbands and smart home solutions to monitor and collect citizens' health data and provide health guidance accordingly.
The use of blockchain and big data analytics to develop a medical data sharing platform that can be accessed by both public and private healthcare service providers, which is still in development.
As a joint initiative between Depa and the Digital Economy and Society (DE) Ministry, the Phuket Smart Tourism and Living Communities project is in partnership with several government agencies, including Prince of Songkla University and Phuket City Development. This project aims to ensure sustainable tourism and safety of the city. It has four components:
Smart tourism, which deploys citywide free high-speed WiFi, the Phuket Smart City app and smart wristbands for tourists.
Public safety that uses CCTV cameras with analytic capabilities (including licence plate and face recognition) and a vessel tracking system.
Smart environment that equips wastewater management systems with IoT technology.
Smart government to create a city data platform providing real-time city data to support decision-making.
"As the smart city transformation is in full swing in the Asia-Pacific region, together with major economic, social and environmental implications, collaboration on all levels, from the governmental agencies to individuals, is necessary," said Jarit Sidhu, head of operations at IDC Thailand.
"Depa has validated the efforts to carry out smart city transformations and leveraged emerging technologies and innovation to make cities more liveable and the residents forward-looking," Mr Jarit said. "We believe that the achievement in building robust smart cities will help attract both foreign direct investment and skilled labour."