The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry has vowed to accelerate digital support for the agricultural sector, bolstering reskilling and upskilling and working with related parties to ease the burden of digital adoption in the hopes of pushing Thailand up the IMD World Digital Competitiveness rankings.
The 2019 ranking, which was revealed in September, saw Thailand slip one place to 40th. The ranking covers 63 countries and was commissioned by the IMD World Competitiveness Center, a think tank under the IMD business school in Switzerland and Singapore.
The rankings were based on three digital areas: future readiness, knowledge and technology. Thailand's knowledge and technology indicators rose one rank to 43rd and 27th, respectively, while future readiness fell one position to 50th.
DES Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta said the ministry will hold talks with all related digital associations in the next two weeks to sound out what should be done to ease existing burdens on digital adoption, including legal implications.
Concerns about incentives, registration procedures, intellectual property rights issues and funding will also be heard, he said.
Mr Buddhipongse said discussions and consent are needed among related parties to come up with a solution.
"It is time to hold discussions and move towards solving obstacles together," he said, noting his awareness of complaints about impediments to digital adoption among entrepreneurs, digital operators and startups in the three months since he assumed the ministerial role.
Strengthening local firms and promoting local startups are vital, Mr Buddhipongse said.
The organisations subject to hold talks with the ministry include the Digital Council of Thailand (DTC) and the Association of Thai Software Industry.
The DTC has 89 members from 4,000 companies in its network.
Mr Buddhipongse said the ministry will ensure that the agricultural sector capitalises on digital development, as more than 40% of the country's population works in agriculture, which contributes only 8.6% to the country's GDP.
The ministry's Digital Economy Promotion Agency will provide training courses to reskill and upskill workers in collaboration with academies, Mr Buddhipongse said, adding that the agency plans to produce 30,000 digitally-savvy workers a year.
DCT president Suphachai Chearavanont said Thailand's digital competitiveness ranking fell while neighbouring countries gained.
He said Thailand needs to undergo economic transformation by taking into account economic zoning, education and innovation hubs and agriculture transformation.