The new government should establish a "National Board of Digital Transformation" to gear the country towards the Thailand 5.0 era, according to recommendations provided by the Digital Council of Thailand (DCT).
The industry's evolution will move to the 5.0 era involving access to new technologies, artificial intelligence, plus a "human 5.0" mindset with technologists who understand business and business people who understand technology, according to DCT chairman Suphachai Chearavanont.
In order to shift towards Thailand 5.0, he said the new government needs to promote collaboration among government agencies and work with private partners.
The National Board of Digital Transformation should be set up to oversee and integrate all necessary digital transformation policies to drive digital transformation in every sector to bolster the country's competitiveness.
Currently, Thailand's economic size (in terms of GDP) is ranked 26th globally, while in the digital competitiveness index it was ranked 40th out of 63 in 2022. In terms of telecom infrastructure, it is ranked 15th.
"This means we have better digital infrastructure but still not much leveraged digital capability to increase the country's GDP," he said.
Thailand's GDP per capita in 2022 stood at US$7,749 per year, ranked 84th globally.
Moreover, Thailand ranks 97th out of 113 in English language skills. In terms of technology investment, foreign investment in Thailand's startups accounted for only 2% of the total value of such investment in Asean in 2022, down from 14% in 2015.
The low level of tech investment is due to a lack of digital skills and the small number of startups. Thailand has around 8,000 startups, compared with 60,000 in Singapore, said Mr Suphachai.
The DCT also proposed five policies to achieve the Thailand 5.0 era and uplift its digital competitiveness index to 15th.
First, the country should promote deep collaboration between the public and private sectors to lay out development in all sectors. Moreover, the government should accelerate the recruitment of talented and capable individuals to work in the public sector by adjusting salaries to the same level or higher than those in the private sector. It should ensure that at least 20% of civil servants possess digital skills.
Second, the country should set a goal that 6% of Thais aged 6 and above possess advanced digital skills by 2027. Currently only 700,000 or 1% of Thai people possess advanced digital skills, compared to 16% of Malaysians.
In addition, it is essential to provide 7 million free computers in order that there is one for every student. Furthermore, it is crucial to encourage entrepreneurship skills at all levels, starting from students, as well as promote English and Chinese language skills.
Schools should create experience-based learning centres, universities should have innovation excellence centres and cities should establish technology and innovation clusters. All of these are fundamental bases for developing digital skills at every level, he added.
Thailand has an education budget of 300 billion baht and by providing free computers it could cost 30 billion baht that would be sufficient to develop the children of the future, he said.
The third proposal is creating a digital economy and elevating the country's digital industry's competitiveness to the global stage. The government must enable entrepreneurs, especially SMEs, to become innovators and digital product and service producers that could be applied to every industry.
Agriculture should be upgraded by utilising technologies to manage farming and adjust the supply chain system. Moreover, the government should push for digital technology adoption among 3,000-5,000 organisations, cooperatives and community enterprises.
The fourth proposal is for Thailand to become the centre of innovation in Asean by 2025, mainly in five sectors, namely bio, nano and energy, robotics and digital including AI, space, and preventive healthcare/health tech. Moreover, it needs to create 20,000 startups to accelerate digital transformation and create job opportunities for 1 million digital and tech workers.
The government should also aim to lure at least three big global investors to invest in Thailand's tech sector.
Bangkok has leading universities. By giving them funding and advanced facilities, these would provide shortcuts to help turn them into global innovation hubs, said Mr Suphachai.
The fifth proposal is to create a digital society that promotes good morals and culture, reducing inequality and creating sustainability by promoting the development of the quality of life of 1 million vulnerable people, enabling them to access digital services universally and equally within 2023.