The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Austrian Technology Corporation (ATC), the trade group for Austrian tech companies, to ramp up technology exchange and drive smart city development.
The MoU was signed as part of the launch of "Austrian Technology Days Southeast Asia 2022", a three-day online event that promotes Austrian tech for the Asean market, which concludes today.
The event features a number of high-profile speakers and participation is free.
Depa president and chief executive Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin said the agency plays a critical role in promoting smart city development across seven dimensions: environment, economy, energy, mobility, living, people and governance.
The agency was tasked with establishing guidelines and recommendations for Thai smart city roadmaps and blueprints as the secretariat of the National Steering Committee on Smart City Development.
In 2018, Urban Innovation Vienna, a think tank and smart city development agency, worked with Depa to organise a smart city framework development workshop to bring its best practices to Thailand.
Gunther Sucher, a commercial counsellor from the Austrian Embassy in Thailand, said Austrian cities have been consistently recognised as among the world's smartest and most liveable cities, particularly Vienna.
According to Mr Nuttapon, Depa and ATC will work together to raise public awareness about the digital economy and its ecosystem as well as smart city development by forming a network of key stakeholders and interested parties.
Moreover, Depa plans to push ahead with joint pilot projects and a proof of concept project on improving the industrial competitiveness of both countries, he said.
"In the coming years, Depa is confident the collaboration will be effective and fruitful," said Mr Nuttapon.
Depa also outlined its missions in 2022, including a list of digital services for government procurement, the dVenture programme aimed at accelerating the growth of startups through its public and private network, smart city ambassadors, the eatsHUB delivery platform, as well as its d-Station sales agent for startups' products.