France-based software firm Dassault Systèmes, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa) and Silpakorn University have teamed up to develop the next generation of urban planning professionals, aiming to turn Thailand into a leading smart city hub within Asean.
According to Thailand's smart city plan for 2024 to 2027, the smart city plan is projected to generate a substantial economic impact worth 200 billion baht in direct and indirect economic benefits within 2027.
The trio signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) concerning the collaboration, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, marking an important step in the ecosystem to support smart cities, said Samson Khaou, executive vice-president for Asia-Pacific at Dassault Systèmes.
He said the initiative aims to cultivate skilled professionals in urban design and planning for smart cities, while integrating technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of everything (IoE), and virtual twin to foster innovative business models for future cities.
According to the company, virtual twin technology is an extension of a digital twin, which is a digital replica of a physical object, system or process that integrates advanced technologies and data sources to enable more sophisticated analysis, decision-making and interaction with the virtual representation.
The collaboration has the potential to serve not only Thai cities but also other Asian cities facing similar challenges posed by rapid urbanisation. This also marks a significant first step in developing a new generation of urban planners with the skills to design future-proof Asian cities, said Mr Khaou.
Ambitious targets
"There is a critical need to upskill people with new design technology -- the virtual twin, which is pivotal to smart city success, in order to position Thailand as the smart city hub of Asean," said Depa president Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin.
According to Thailand's smart city plan for 2024 to 2027, the country aims to establish 105 smart cities across 77 provinces.
Currently Thailand has 36 smart cities in 25 provinces and 128 area-based smart cities.
Depa has worked with the Board of Investment and the Finance Ministry to provide a 250% tax deduction to a list of approved training programmes and institutions in order to boost people's digital skills.
In addition, businesses would be entitled to a 150% corporate income tax exemption if hiring the highly-skilled personnel.
Thailand needs over 100,000 digitally skilled personnel per year, with educational institutions currently producing only 30,000 specialists.
The partnership will also focus on promoting innovation, developing specialised skills, accelerating smart city projects, and establishing modern urban planning services.
500 professionals in 3 years
Suchada Piriyaprasarth, vice-president for organisation quality development at Silpakorn University, said virtual twin is a crucial technology for design collaboration and to aggregate the data of cities across agencies. It also provides visibility for city stakeholders to help them understand what needs to be changed.
As cities change all the time and face complex problems, having this 3D technology would enable problem-solving at a faster pace when compared with conventional methods that require data gathering for a period of 3-6 months before any decision can be made, Ms Suchada said.
The MoU outlines the development of a four-phase project within three years, starting with the launch of 3DEXPERIENCE Smart City Industrial Training Center in September 2024 to offer courses on smart city development and provide certification.
This would be followed by the establishment of an incubation centre for the exchange of expertise among agencies, businesses and startups.
"We can help startups use public city data to develop applications," Ms Suchada said.
The third phase would see the creation of a research centre for urban planning, while the fourth phase would see the establishment of a digital showroom to showcase smart city solutions to the public.
"We're planning to invest in a cloud-based service to allow small cities to access virtual twin technology and charge them on a service fee model," said Ms Suchada.
The collaboration between the three parties would be open to graduate students and other people interested in reskilling or upskilling. It aims to produce over 500 smart city professionals within three years.
More courses to develop specific skills would also be offered, such as programmes pertaining to urban informatics and smart urban mobility.
"Demand for an urban planning workforce will increase as the Town Planning Act allows municipalities to design their own areas," Ms Suchada said.
Mr Khaou said Dassault's 3DEXPERIENCE platform creates realistic digital representations of cities, known as virtual twins. The platform was initially developed in collaboration with the Singapore government to create a virtual replica of Singapore for urban planning simulations, such as wind flow and shadow analysis to improve energy efficiency.
Mr Khaou said it is important to develop skilled professionals for urban planning in the future who would be able to integrate the knowledge modelling and simulation, and who can master AI to be creative in the field of urban planning, combined with the concept of sustainability.
This expertise is highly sought after by companies, particularly as data science becomes crucial for urban planning and employability in the future, Mr Khaou noted.
He said sustainability would be paramount, requiring urban planners to consider a city's ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors as key performance indicators.
These metrics encompass factors such as road infrastructure, building energy efficiency, and proximity to workplaces. While attracting residents necessitates job creation and convenient commutes, industries themselves must also manage their environmental impact.
"Urban planners will therefore face the challenge of fostering a liveable city with job opportunities, while ensuring all of it is sustainable," said Mr Khaou.