The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa) will start operating the government startup centre in Bangkok by March to promote and scale up local startups, serving the government's goal of creating a hub in the region.
Located at the Ladprao Hills building, the startup centre will partially operate as a pioneer unit of the IoT (Internet of Things) Institute, which will be located in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
Depa will transfer staff and operations from the Chaeng Wattana Government Complex to Ladprao Hills, where the agency will rent the eighth floor starting in March.
Depa president Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin said the agency expects to have 10,000 Thai startups by 2037, with at least 60% of them in the field of innovative connectivity such as IoT.
There are more than 1,000 startups in the country now, but just 37 are IoT-related. Japan has about 3,000 IoT companies working on innovation development for that country's economy.
Mr Nuttapon said Thailand must enter the value-added economy, requiring more innovative tech embedded in all industrial and service sectors.
The startup centre will also help promote deals or business matching between Thai startups, local enterprises and international players.
Mr Nuttapon said Depa's new office will serve as a contact centre and one-stop unit for smart visa operations to help foreign startups and related parties do business in Thailand.
Depa is preparing space at the new office for three core units: artificial intelligence (AI) lab, IoT lab and maker space.
The maker space will foster digital innovation development and intellectual property services in a cooperative effort between Depa and private partners.
The AI lab, IoT lab and maker space will be significant parts of the IoT institute in Chon Buri province.
Depa will act as the IoT Institute Bangkok, working with the main IoT Institute in the EEC to facilitate digital economic development. Construction of the IoT Institute in the EEC will start its first phase in May and is scheduled for completion by 2020.
The government recently allocated 3.9 billion baht as a five-year investment budget (2018-22) for the IoT Institute.