Thailand moves towards 5th industrial revolution

Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is eyeing foreign investment in cloud computing with a bigger goal than making Thailand a digital hub, according to Prof. Narumon Pinyosinwat, a Thai trade representative.

Narumon said Srettha was planning to develop Thailand’s digital ecosystem and infrastructure to get the country ready for the 5th industrial revolution (5IR).

Thailand’s 4th industrial revolution has been taking place since 2010, when the country started embracing digital economy technologies such as Internet of Things, robotics, blockchain, and biotechnology.

As part of the 4IR, the Thai government at that time upgraded the Information and Communications Technology Ministry into the Digital Economy and Society Ministry, Narumon said.

She stressed that to get the country prepared for 5IR, the Thai government has been trying to attract more foreign investments for developing the ecosystem necessary for embracing 5IR, including inviting more foreign businesses to invest in data and data analytics centres in the Southeast Asian country.

She said that during 5IR, the personalised economy would take the centre stage, as businesses would personalise their services for particular customers and data centers, and data analytics would be essential for a personalized economy