Pichet Durongkaveroj, the digital economy and society (DE) minister, is urging his replacement to continue the government's digital infrastructure push along with its roadmap of promoting digital literacy, Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) projects and e-commerce.
The government began implementing digital economy development in 2016 and hopes it will lift the country out of the middle-income trap.
The ministry has been pushing development through five core strategies: digital infrastructure development including digital-related laws, digital government, cybersecurity, tech innovation and digital talent development.
"Some 80% of projects have been pushed through the pipeline, but we still need to continue with all critical development," he said.
At a forum on digital priorities, Mr Pichet said the government needs to ensure all of Thailand's 67 million people have some basic knowledge of technology and make use of it in their daily lives. The country needs to prepare for automation because many jobs will be replaced by machines.
"Every country is facing digital disruption. To cope they need a strategic format, not a traditional one," he said.
The government has brought digital literacy to about 150,000 villagers through education programmes, which are scheduled to end this year.
Pichet: Must ensure digital literacy
For development of the EEC, Mr Pichet said the government is in the process of constructing the Digital Park in Chon Buri to promote new S-curve industries like robotics, aircraft, digital businesses, biofuels and biochemical.
The DE Ministry also plans to increase the number of startups to 10,000 by 2037, up from 1,000. It wants to see at least 60% of the new startups involve innovative connectivity tech such as Internet of Things.
Mr Pichet said the new government should continue expanding e-commerce to rural Thailand, where villagers can sell their goods globally through online platforms.
The community e-commerce scheme is equipped with point-of-sale from Thailand Post, helping people who need to sell their products to access an e-marketplace via Thailandpostmart.com, the main website of the company.
Through the system, their products will be listed on a central database and uploaded via an e-catalogue system connected to other communities to promote the products.
Mr Pichet said the expansion of community e-commerce complements the national broadband network for all villages or Net Pracharat project that began in December 2016 and will be completed by November 2019.