DTAC will award Bt100,000 to each of these finalists and will further support them in raising fund via a crowdfunding channel in the next step.

The DTAC Plik Thai campaign is aimed at empowering active citizen and various groups of volunteers to make a better Thailand through the use of digital technology and its applications.

The campaign opened for applications in August last year, drawing in more than 500 projects related to social issues , such as education, poverty, domestic violence and income inequality. The judging committee then selected the 10 final projects for the crowdfunding platform.

These projects range from the Braille learning device for the blind, a push for tooth decay prevention in Southern Thailand, to the use of AI-powered chatbot against domestic violence.

The 10 final initiatives share the common goal of making a better Thailand through joining forces to empower societies. The projects cover educational issues, community economy, aging society, human rights and environmental concerns.

Rajiv Bawa, DTAC’s Chief Corporate Affairs and Business Development, yesterday said that economic growth of the last two centuries has led to resource depletion and serious crises in the social realm, and the old approaches to solving these problems have proven to be inadequate in the face of today’s problems.

“If the negative trends are to be reversed, our approaches to development have to be changed methodologically as well as philosophically,”.

“With the rapidly changing society coming with various social issues, there seems to be a tendency that a citizen has to be active and be involved in social activities in order to find a suitable place in society.

Several countries embrace the term “participative society” in order to stimulate their citizens.”

Plik Thai campaign provides options for donors to help fund the ten projects, through the non-profit crowdfunding platform Taejai.com and the mobile phones of DTAC’s subscribers.