The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) plans to continue its roles as a co-creation regulator and promoter next year to increase the value of the digital economy and create a positive social impact.
The agency wants to continue its work on enhancing the country's digital infrastructure, focusing on promoting e-document management, stepping up its governance of digital platform services, enhancing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for good governance, effective data sharing, and developing and improving related laws and standards.
The agency has held discussions with the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) on whether Thailand should establish a national AI centre.
The ETDA will continue to drive adoption of a digital ID for using the planned "digital document wallet" and drive the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises through funding. It aims to develop 90,000 highly skilled digital workers by 2027.
All these efforts are aimed at raising the contribution of Thailand's digital economy to 30% of total GDP and lifting Thailand to among the top 30 countries worldwide in the 2027 edition of the digital competitiveness ranking.
"Thailand is transitioning from a traditional economy to a digital economy. ETDA needs to continue its role as both a co-creation regulator and promoter of the digital economy to build trust in online transactions, improve the country's competitiveness, and provide a better digital life for people," said ETDA executive director Chaichana Mitrpant.
Currently the ETDA has crucial digital infrastructure such as digital ID, timestamp, digital signature and certificate authority (CA) systems.
There are 18 million digital ID users. Around 449 government e-services are already connected with digital ID systems out of 1,626 state e-services. There are 12 companies in total holding 16 licences for providing digital ID services.
The ETDA aims to equip 80% of government services with digital ID by 2025.
The ETDA is considering developing a digital document wallet, which would take the form of a digital wallet or repository for storing and managing verifiable credentials.
These credentials include information that verifies an individual's identity or qualifications, such as a driver's licence, educational certificates, health information, or other relevant data.
Moreover, the agency will enhance its oversight of digital platform services.
As of September 2024, 1,813 digital service platforms have registered their information in compliance with the digital platform service decree which took effect last year.
Mr Chaichana said the agency would be more stringent in enforcing the decree.
"We will analyse the impacts on platforms like ride-hailing and food delivery and also e-commerce platforms to ensure appropriate consumer protection," said Mr Chaichana.
The ETDA will also promote more AI governance and data sharing to ensure the ethical use of AI and secure data sharing in an AI-based context.
"Some countries like Singapore have a national AI agency. We need to discuss this with Nectec on the position of Thailand in this regard," said Mr Chaichana.
The country should also update relevant laws and standards to encourage the use of technology and innovation through an innovation sandbox.
