Somkid Jatusripitak, deputy prime minister, said during a meeting with the ministry’s executives that they must be the core of support for startups, such as by signing a cooperative agreement with innovative digital community Cyberport of Hong Kong.

The ministry needs to line up with the main private and public agencies, venture capitals and banks, including the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand that specialises in SME promotion, he said.

In its search for a Thai representative to head the coodination with Cyberport, they need to keep in mind that the head “has to be an innovation specialist who is able to work well with the public and private units, and bankers,” Somkid said. The agreement kicks in on February 28.

The Department of Industrial Promotion will have to expedite its role in promoting startups, helping groups of farmers and promoting agricultural processing without waiting for the new government, he said.

Santi Kiranand, deputy minister of industry, said that cooperation between InnoSpace (Thailand) and Cyberport of Hong Kong will not only promote fintech startups, but also all types of startups, thanks to Thailand’s diversity in services and production – and particularly its innovative agricultural processing.

InnoSpace (Thailand) is a public-private joint venture to serve as a national platform supporting new startups.

Cyberport of Hong Kong will give advice for startup incubation and applied programmes to nurture new startups for commercial operations, while InnoSpace (Thailand) will support startups to apply their new technologies for commercial products.

Thailand has until now not produced a unicorn startup company with 30-100 times growth over 3-5 years. The country has seen only Thai startups registered overseas.

“Cyberport of Hong Kong was established 17 years ago. After [initial] failure, it has succeeded in the past three years. This time, Cyberport will help Thailand not to step on its own failure path and to go ahead to target rapidly,” Somkid said.

Under the Bt500-million venture, InnoSpace (Thailand), will see co-investment by leading conglomerates and public agencies in Thailand, including Thai Beverage Plc, Charoen Pokphand Group, True Corporation Plc, Krungthai Bank, PTT Plc, National Science and Technology Development Agency and SME Bank.

In the first year, about 40-50 startups will be incubated by this venture with assistance in financing, business management and other areas. The aim is for one or two startups among them to be developed into unicorn startup companies in three to five years.

Innovations to upgrade productivity for SMEs and farmers will be promoted under the venture.

The number of internet users has grown four times over the past 10 years, and many Thai-International platforms have grown to support the number of online shoppers, along with increasing confidence in e-Payment and faster logistics and delivery services, ETDA said, projecting that the value of e-Commerce in Thailand will grow further by 20 per cent this year.

Service providers have chosen to use Big Data to analyse the behaviour and needs of consumers, while AI is being used to develop the quality of the product and services through uses of Chatbots. Trends show that growth will continue with the arrival of 5G, creating new innovations that will lift up the quality of life for consumers.

Surangkana Wayuparp, president of Electronic Transactions Development Agency (Public Organisation) or ETDA, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DE) said that the results of surveys show that the value of e-Commerce in Thailand has grown consistently between 8-10 per cent per year.

ETDA has been collecting these statistics since 2014. When comparing the number of internet users over the past 10 years, there were only 16.1 million internet users in 2008; latest information revealed that in 2017, there were 45.2 million users.

This reflects the change in consumer behaviour that has come as a result of the changes in technology and communication devices, as well as the reduction of the price of these devices and services, which has resulted in more people having more online access.

This has resulted in the e-Commerce market of Thailand growing as well, including increasing numbers of both buyers and online sellers, which is also in line with the growth of platforms by Thai and international businesses.

Surangkana said: “Thailand is a country that has considerable strengths in the B2C sector – one of the biggest growths in Asean. Comparing the value between 2016 and 2017, we found that there was a growth in value of around Bt160 billion. Part of that value has been created from the growing confidence in e-Payment technology, the increased convenience, and the better logistics, which has resulted in more and more consumers turning to use online markets.

“When looking at the opportunities for products and services, we see that the online department store business have grown because of promotions that draw in customers, the credibility of the service as well as the confidence in the existence of the sellers’ shops, with Facebook at the top of the list, utilising ‘Boosted Posts’ and ‘Boosted Ads’ to reach more customers and accurate target groups.

“The sector of online digital marketing has also grown since 2017 by about 69.92 per cent, with Facebook at top of the list, both in terms of ‘Boosted Posts’ and ‘Boosted Ads’ to reach more customers more accurately.”

ETDA said every service provider has made more use of information, or Big Data, in developing the e-Commerce business by bringing in the analysis of consumer behaviours to develop new products that will meet the needs of the consumers. Some 92.85 per cent of service providers also use this information to create their marketing strategies, and 85.71 per cent use Big data to analyse the different environmental elements that might impact buyer decisions so that they can plan the distribution of their products accordingly.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used to improve the quality of products and services, ETDA said. The top use for AI is in the service sector, such as the use of Chatbots to provide information to customers quickly, and for CRM purposes (69.23 per cent).

The second highest use of AI is in other areas of business, such as Claims analytics, Underwriting (23.07 per cent) and use in consumer behaviour analytics and decision making for management, both of which come in at 15.38 per cent.

At the same time, Thailand is stepping into the 5G era, which is resulting in many new innovations that will lift up the quality of life for people, whether it is the use of drones for delivery and drones for security reasons, 360 degrees video streaming and livestreaming, 3D virtual reality for educational purposes,etc.

These new innovations will help to drive Thai e-Commerce to develop even further, ETDA said. Statistically, Thailand has over 45 million internet users last year, together with 124.8 million mobile subscribers, 44 million people using LINE messenger, 52 million Facebook users.

At the same time, social commerce is also growing strongly, ETDA said. Thai people are choosing to buy through Social Commerce as the second most popular platform after e-Marketplaces because it is a platform that makes selling and buying easier, reducing the barriers between the sellers and buyers, and increasing the power of negotiation for buyers, allowing buyers to have more choices.

In addition, there is another aspect of e-Commerce that consumers give importance to: logistics. Logistics has also developed in response to consumer needs with tracking services that accurately track purchases and delivery, which allows for more confidence in buying from online shops. There are also many choices for logistics services available with high competition among them, which results in increased customer satisfaction since these services now cover a larger area, and is not just centred in big cities.

As a result, ETDA said it is possible to drive Thai e-Commerce to the international market, especially when looking at the strengths of Thailand, which is the 4th most popular destination to visit of the world, and the popularity of Thai products among varied countries, such as:

• Vietnam, where Thai consumer products are very popular, as well as cosmetics and childrens’ products.

• Indonesia, where Thai snacks are incredibly popular.

• India, where Thai spices and cosmetics are popular.

• China, where Thai cosmetics, herbal remedies, and clothes and bags are popular.

The strengths of Thai products are able to create opportunities for e-Commerce businesses with a unique identity and distinctive elements that stand out from others.

To continue to build market value even more, ETDA is cooperating with many partners in both public and private sectors, as well as educational institutions, to support the development of an e-Commerce Silicon Valley through their Young Talent Platform, creating a workforce that will be able to support Thai e-Commerce businesses in all aspects, and taking Thailand’s e-Commerce businesses to the international level in the future.

Auramon, the director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations (DTN), has made it her goal to not only oversee and facilitate international trade negotiations for the country but to also ensure that the private sector benefits from the free-trade agreements (FTAs) that have been hatched.

Having worked for the DTN since 1990, when she was aged just 21, Auramon has dedicated her career to improving Thailand’s trade environment. The DTN was then called the Department of Business Economics, she notes. The DTN comes under the umbrella of the Commerce Ministry.

It was in her role as the minister counsellor of commerce under Thailand’s permanent mission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) from 2003 to 2008 that she really sharpened her trade negotiation skills. Her posting to Geneva allowed her to recognise that diplomacy and trade negotiations don’t happen only in the negotiations room.

“This was back when Supachai Panitchpakdi was still chief of the WTO. The organisation was very active back then,” she recalls in an interview with The Nation Weekend.

“At the time, the WTO negotiations were focused on relatively new issues such as intellectual property protection and anti-dumping measures. As minister counsellor, I oversaw the general counselling and negotiations of Thailand in the various WTO meetings.”

Auramon describes that period as an important learning experience, especially as the trade meetings and negotiations happened daily.

“There were small group meetings such as the Friends of Fish meetings to promote the fishery industry, or regional meetings like Asean meetings,” she says.

“From my post in Geneva, I learnt that negotiations often happen outside the negotiations room. For example, reception events are extremely important. In Geneva, receptions are a key opportunity to get up to date with the negotiation trends, making them crucial for work.

“I also had to often make speeches on behalf of Thailand in front of representatives from up to 180 countries. This made me very active. It developed my negotiation skills such as public speaking and speech writing.”

In 2008, Auramon returned to Thailand and joined the Commerce Ministry’s Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) as its director.

“When I was moved to the DIP, I was not sure how much I could contribute to the department as I had never practised or studied intellectual property (IP) laws,” she recalls. “However, it was yet another valuable learning experience for me as IP laws are a crucial part of trade negotiations.

“The DIP also taught me the importance of promoting FTAs. Before joining, I was purely a negotiator by profession. Promoting various IP laws was part of my responsibilities in the DIP, and it has greatly benefited my work in the DTN today.

“The DTN gives importance to both trade negotiations and encouraging businesses to utilise the negotiated trade deals.”

Stressing the importance of ensuring that businesses benefit from the negotiated FTAs, the director-general has adopted a hands-on approach to her work.

Recently, the DTN partnered with the National Federation of Thai Farmers to encourage farmers in the Eastern region to use the Asean Free Trade Agreement (Afta) in order for Thai agricultural goods to further penetrate the Asean market.

Auramon will be participating in various seminars in the region throughout this year to raise awareness of how Thai farmers can gain from exporting their goods to other Asean countries under the Afta.

“Trade negotiations will bring absolutely no benefit to the country if key businesses and individuals do not make use of the trade deals. Hence, it is extremely important that we promote the benefits of the negotiated FTAs to the wider population,” she says.

Auramon’s goal for 2019 is to improve the networking of the DTN, both internally and with other organisations. To this end, she will visit location across Thailand to encourage businesses to use the FTAs with various countries and she will also be working closely with representatives of the private sector, such as the Thai Federation of Industries and the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

In 2019, the department aims to finish drafting up to four FTAs, headlined by the multilateral Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), along with agreements with Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Turkey.

However, the top priority for the DTN in 2019 will be organising two Asean summits, of which Thailand is chair this year, Auramon says. “There will be up to nine meetings that we will have to organise in 2019. It will be a key task for the DTN and hence it will be our main focus this year.”

The department is sure to have an extremely important role to play in 2019 as Thailand assumes the role of Asean chair. Understanding that trade negotiations and promotion go hand in hand, Auramon is well equipped to take up this task both as a negotiator and promoter of FTAs.

In a press release issued on Friday, ETDA said the move is in line with the expansion of its Young Talent Platform to support the creation e-commerce personnel and develop the workforce needed to support the future in cooperation with major educational institutions.

ETDA said it is also ready to cooperate with the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) to support the protection of consumers through online platforms to keep up with digital technology.

Surangkana Wayuparp, ETDA president, said that in launching the “Young Talent Platform” and E-commerce Park, starting with Srinakharinwirot University last year, ETDA is hoping to cooperate with other educational institutions through the signing of MoUs to promote and support electronic transactions.

“RMUTP is an educational institution that has the philosophy in building people who are specialised in technology to feed into the world of work. Today, business owners need human resources that have a variety of know-how and skills, and the fact that RMUTP has a wide network of nine universities and with the combination of art and technology education in one place.

“They have also students all around the country that will help to develop and build a workforce for the digital industry, and allow electronic transactions and electronic commerce to fully function. Also, it will allow businesses to conveniently coordinate with one another, and incentivize more business to happen between them,” she said.

Surangkana added that the cooperation will focus on developing different programmes that will answer the needs of businesses in the digital era, to develop and promote the creation of a workforce that has knowledge and skills that are needed in the digital era in order to support SMEs and Enterprises.

There will be programmes for students, as well as for the general public, to give them knowledge and the know-how to be able to do e-Commerce, and also assistance in finding necessary resources, such as personnel, budget and equipment for many uses that are covered by this MOU.

RMUTP is ready in terms of knowledge, personnel, faculty and a team of students that will be part of the development and circulation of knowledge, training, and advising on e-Commerce matters to businesses and people who are interested, as well as advising businesses to be able to use new online marketing platforms to support their own work in the most effective way.

This cooperation is also a development of graduates and personnel to have the quality and reach standards that will be able to meet the needs of the labour market, and the development of the country in the future, which is one of the most important goals of the university as well.

“With the development of E-commerce Parks, we aim to produce about one million personnel, who have e-commerce skills, as well as 200,000 SMEs per annum. There are currently 50 million Internet users in Thailand,” said Surangkana.

Assoc Prof Supatra Kosaiyakanont, acting president of RMUTP, said that the university is ready in terms of its knowledge base, its personnel, its faculty as well as with a team of students that are ready to be part of the development and circulation of knowledge, training, and advising on e-Commerce matters to businesses and people who are interested, as well as advising businesses to be able to use new online marketing platforms to support their own work in the most effective way.

This cooperation is also a development of graduates and personnel to have the quality and reach standards that will be able to meet the needs of the labour market, and the development of the country in the future, which is one of the most important goals of the university as well.

“We are positioning ourselves as a ‘digital university’ and business incubator set to produce young entrepreneurs into the market. We produce about 3,000 new graduates per year and 90 per cent of them are employed. Between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of our new graduates are business entrepreneurs and we expect this proportion to increase to 50 per cent in the next four to five years,” Supatra said.

Professor Surapongse Sothanasathien, acting chairman of the university council at RMUTP, said that the university has a plan to build a modern retail shop similar to ‘Phufa Shop’ at its location to be a place for students to sell their products, including foods and fashion apparels, as well as general merchandises.

The university will also bring those products made by its students for selling on the website. This will be a model to be used further by other universities in RMUTP’s network.

At the same time, ETDA has also signed a MoU with the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) to develop, support and promote Online Consumer Protection to be in line with problems consumers face today, and to manage changing technology in the digital world more closely.

This is considered another important step in cooperation, the exchange of knowledge and the continued building of capacity for the protection of consumers using digital tools together. The signing of the MoU was witnessed by Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office

This cooperation between the agencies had the same goal, which is to develop more complete online consumer protection, which is in line with the 20 National Strategic Framework (2017 – 2036), which also covers the aspect of the development of platforms for the population by public agencies.

Both organisations are also determined to build on multiple dimensions by integrating with different networks, both public and private, in order to better protect consumer rights online, and ensure that the consumers are treated fairly. The MoU focuses on 4 key elements:

1. The development of online consumer protection, including the collection of a database of online sellers, which will allow all sides to be able to access the information for the purposes of consumer protection.

2. The development of digital tools, systems or mechanisms that keep information safe and secure, which will lead to more analysis of Big Data, leading to better development of online consumer protection.

3. The exchange and creation of knowledge, experience and academic research that is related to online consumer protection.

And 4. The provision and support in resources, such as personnel, budget, and equipment for the execution of the work as contained in the MoU.