Three-day show to build awareness

The Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) has teamed up with the Association of Thai Software Industry (ATSI) to organise the Thailand Software Fair 2009, with the aim of creating wider awareness and acceptance of locally developed software.

ATSI president Somkiat Ungaree said about 1,000 local software packages, being offered by 100 software houses, would be displayed at the fair. The event will last three days, starting on Friday at Royal Paragon Hall. It is expected to attract between 30,000 and 50,000 visitors and generate trade valued at about Bt50 million.

Somkiat said visitors who bought Thai software at the fair would receive a gift voucher. The Department of Industrial Promotion has supported the Bt2-million total cost of the gift vouchers.

Sipa's president Rungruang Limchoopatipa said the fair could offer more than 200 Thai-made software solutions ready to serve businesses in all industries. The fair is a part of Sipa's strategy to promote the use of Thai software by local small- and medium-sized enterprises.

"We are trying to build a critical mass of local software houses and their solutions and packages. Apart from the trade value of the fair, we aim to build awareness of the local software business. This will target not only business people, but also students, to educate them about the opportunities in the software business and the potential of a software-related career," he said.

The fair will also offer seminar sessions for both software houses and their customers, covering recent trends in software technologies and business models such as software as a service (SaaS), service-oriented architecture (SOA), open-source technology and shareware.