How does Business Adapt to Smart Cities?
When talking about business in Thailand, the first thing many people are likely to mention is agriculture. Thailand’s economy is heavily based on agriculture, which contributes 8.1% of GDP and employs 30.4% of the active population. The country is the largest producer of rubber in the world and one of the leading producers and exporters of rice. Many Thai people still rely heavily on traditional practices and folk wisdom to earn their living, and for many of them, it can be hard to imagine the current pace and advancement of the business world.
However, since Thailand began promoting “Thailand 4.0” industries in 2016, the strategy being pushed by Government to overcome the middle-income trap and make Thailand into a high-income nation, many more businesses have begun to explore how to implement and integrate technology to adapt to the emerging trend of ‘smart cities’.;
Technologies of the smart city
‘Smart’ technologies are a key enabling tool that new services and applications utilize to improve our lives and the world around us. They enable citizens to access and make sense of new information, support the learning of new skills, and improve our communication with authorities and each other. Many uses of technology may not even be visible to us, but they will help connect citizens to a seamless provision of services that make our lives easier, healthier, and more enjoyable.
Simply stated, the common technologies used in the smart city include foundational ICT infrastructures like wired and wireless communication networks, geospatial technology that help with location-based decision making, sensor networks and the internet of things (IoT), data analytics, AI, automation, and distributed ledger technologies for secure transactions.
Together, these technologies collect, communicate and analyze data that leads to better decision making and more dynamic business insights. Developing a framework of technologies that work together and are adaptable from the outset is critical to smart city success, and just as the nature of every smart city may differ, with varying needs and goals, there are a wide range of technologies and standards, all with unique features and specifications, that can be applied in the smart city.
Trends in Thailand’s Digital Economy
Like many other countries worldwide, Thailand has been witnessing growth in data traffic. The volume of data services in Thailand in 2017 was 6 times as much as 2014. The high adoption rate of 3G and 4G, along with high mobile device penetration, has encouraged people to use more online services and activities such as mobile banking, PromptPay, and e-commerce. With 5G, Thailand is expected to see the exponential growth of data traffic, especially from IoT devices.
Businesses in Thailand are increasingly using of IoT devices, indicated by the growing value of ‘big data’. The value of big data analytics business in Thailand in 2018 is estimated at THB 13.6 billion, a 15% increase from last year, as various sectors are increasingly spending more on systems and related services.
Digital technology has changed the commercial and business world dramatically and has helped create tremendous business opportunities. However, leveraging these emerging technologies at the city scale is a much more difficult task than for internal use in business or industry. To truly build the smart cities of the future, technology companies in Thailand, both large and small, will need to work together with the city and national government , state-run enterprises and utilities, academia and NGOs, as well as private citizens to build a new marketplace that delivers better services and costs savings for all involved.
Thailand’s emerging smart city marketplace
The smart city is a new frontier for most cities, especially in Thailand. Even in more mature markets, supply and demand dynamics are still developing. Few cities have progressed beyond pilots or proof of concepts to a fully scaled and integrated smart city system. In cities and countries that are just beginning their smart city journeys, where few standards exist and there are very few, if any, entrenched market players, the path forward often feels risky and unclear. One thing that is clear, however, is the importance of leveraging partnerships and establishing new market mechanisms.
Building the smart city marketplace requires active facilitation and support. A mature smart city market will see all of the stakeholders listed above working together to shape standards, encourage demand, and nurture innovations to prove their value and scale to market. Most cities are not there, yet, and the learning curve can be steep.
One of the ways that the government can help to facilitate digital businesses is through digital education and skills training. The kinds of businesses involved in the smart city need high-skill people with digital literacy to be able to make value in the market place, making specified job-training a growing need. The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) has numerous initiatives, including a CEO training program and data platform bootcamps. The Department of Industrial Promotion organizes new strategies to adjust the service system for SMEs by using a digital platform to build an entire ecosystem of organs to promote and develop SME entrepreneurs according to the Thailand 4.0 policy.
Additionally, the government can improve the business environment for startups by lowering loan interest and lower tax rates. They can also play a key role in facilitating business matching with venture capital through user-oriented hackathons and incubators, two strategies that DEPA continues to develop.
For both businesses and public sector stakeholders, data sharing and transparency is increasingly important among collaborators in the market. The more transparent a company, the more trust and future business it will encourage, and common-sense standards and rules need to be in place regarding cybersecurity and data privacy concerns.
Last but not least, the pace of technology is fast, companies have to be agile and pivot when needed. There are a lot of unknowns, and that can make some anxious; executives and leaders can help mitigate that stress by being open to change and committed to watching trends and how they affect the industry.
An article by Pichanun Wattanalertpong
References:
- https://www.nordeatrade.com/fi/explore-new-market/thailand/economical-context
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Thailand
- https://www.information-age.com/smart-city-tech-trillions-economic-growth-123470508/
- https://www.smethailandclub.com/news-8900-id.html
- https://www.marketingoops.com/news/tech-update/startups/jenosize/