Local parks geared up to boost industry

The preparations, aimed at making Thailand a prime destination for software businesses from around the world, have been pursued by the country's six software parks in support of the Asian Oceanian Regional Software Park Alliance's "local link, global reach" approach to expansion.

As well as Software Park Thailand, the parks are the E-Saan Software Park, Samui Software Park, Software Park Phuket, Korat Software Park and Chiang Mai Software Technology and Outsourcing Centre.

All are working in close collaboration under the Local Software Park Alliance, to share and exchange expertise and to transfer technology to build up Thailand's strengths in software development.

E-Saan Software Park:

Director Panupong Wanjantuk said that E-Saan Software Park was formed five years ago by collaboration between Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Thai Industries' Khon Kaen chapter.

Currently, it is being developed as a new digital content and testing centre with the aim of presenting the strengths of software development in the northeastern part of Thailand.

The park is currently doubling the size of its facilities at Khon Kaen University, from 500 to 1,000 square metres, while planning a new facility with 3,600 square metres of floor space in the centre of Khon Kaen, Panupong said.

"The extended phase at Khon Kaen University will be completed in December this year. It will provide more services, including rental space, an incubation centre, training services and software business matching through to consulting services. It will also house a new animation and multimedia lab to support the development of digital content-based applications," he said.

The new park building in central Khon Kaen is under construction and is expected to be complete in the middle of next year.

Samui Software Park:

Samui Software Park was the first private software park in Thailand, set up in 2003. It plans to launch a second phase of its software-park services, called "IT Complex Samui II", by early next year.

Sudthawan Thaosakul, chief information officer and IT manager of Web Sawadee, owner and operator of Samui Software Park, said the park's original IT Complex Samui I, covering 3,000 square metres, was now full. It has nine tenants.

The new IT Complex Samui II will add 9,600 square metres of floor space, offering rental space for up to 15 companies, a seminar and training centre and software-development-tool facilities.

"With good infrastructure and comfortable transportation facilities around the island, the park aims to attract overseas investment, especially in Web development and software for the real-estate and tourism businesses. We hope to turn Koh Samui into a top-ranked destination for software development in Asia," Sudthawan said.

Software Park Phuket:

Officially launched in late 2007, Software Park Phuket has the ambitious aim of making Phuket a hub for software development in Southeast Asia.

Director Kongkiat Kespechara said the park aimed to encourage local software firms to develop plug-in software applications under service-oriented architecture (SOA), mainly to serve the tourism and hospitality industries.

Located in a 1,250-square-metre, three-storey building, the park offers three main facilities: rental space, an incubation centre and a research and development centre. Its rental space accommodates seven tenants and is currently full. Four of the tenants are Phuket-based software firms and three are foreign software entrepreneurs. A further six companies are on the park's waiting list for rental space.

The park is spending Bt120 million on a new phase, which will have 2,500 square metres of rental space in a five-storey building. Future development will include a 43-unit serviced-apartment block and a 400-seat meeting hall. It plans eventually to expand its facilities to cover 10-rai of land.

Korat Software Park:

Korat Software Park is a newcomer to the country's software-park infrastructure.

Its head, Phadet Jinda, said the park had been under construction for three years and would be officially launched in January next year.

The park occupies a six-storey building in the vicinity of the Nakhon Ratchasima Provincial Administration. It aims to be a new IT-outsourcing centre in the country's Northeast, providing rental space, a software-business matching service and software-development laboratories.

"Our goal is to make our province a key centre of professional IT resources serving not only local software-development jobs, but also software-outsourcing projects from aboard," Phadet said.

The new park also plans to turn out more than 5,000 software developers with international certification within three years. They will cover four key technologies: database systems, mobile applications, animation and digital content and embedded software.

Chiang Mai Software Technology and Outsourcing Centre:

This centre is due to be launched in 2011 with all its facilities in a 23-storey building located in the 300-rai (48-hectare) Chiang Mai Business Park.

Chiang Mai Business Centre development director Akarapong Phongsuwan said that the organisation aimed to make Chiang Mai the technology-development centre of northern Thailand.

The Chiang Mai Software Technology and Outsourcing Centre will offer three main facilities: Chiang Mai Software Park, an animation and multimedia centre and an outsourcing centre.

'We hope to generate economic value of at least Bt3 billion in the first stage of its operation, together with at least 5,000 job opportunities," Akarapong said.