Sipa Given funds to push creative-economy software

Under the banner "Digital Media Asian 2010" (DMA 2010), the agency plans to execute several projects to encourage the development not only of Thai digital content and software, but also the regional industry to drive Asia become the global digital-content hub.

DMA 2010 will cover education, toys and comics, film, music, games and animation. It will feature fairs, festivals, exhibitions, business-matching and training conferences.

The agency's role under DMA 2010 is to develop the country's software technology and human resources for information-technology industries to enable Thailand to become the regional hub of an Asia-wide creative economy in three to five years.

Sipa's plan is supported by four main "pillars": research and development, human-resources development, an advanced-technology platform for world-class IT services and international collaboration.

It aims to make Thailand a hub for R&D in several areas, including innovation, digital content, software incubation and global outsourcing. It also plans to encourage international firms to invest more in R&D by removing commonly encountered obstacles.

The agency is working with the Board of Investment to revise the board's regulations and incentive programmes to help encourage international R&D investment in Thailand. This is expected to be a crucial factor in driving the country towards a creative economy.

In its human-resources-development mission, Sipa plans to establish more academic programmes and research centres, and bolster public-private R&D collaboration. These steps are aimed at building a highly skilled workforce for the industry.

For example, the agency has set up the Creative Science Engineering Management Programme, an interdisciplinary course to generate skilled entrepreneurs for the creative economy.

Moreover, it is also working with the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre and IBM Thailand to establish an intensive course in service science, management and engineering, called the Science Service Management Engineering Fast-Track Programme.

Next, the agency will accelerate the establishment of centres of excellence to encourage the development of an advanced-technology platform to attract world-class IT services and outsourcing to Thailand.

It will collaborate with international partners, including Cloud Computing Technology for Asia Digital Content Exchange, the IBM Excellence Centre and Microsoft's Regional Innovation Centre, to lay down an IT infrastructure for advanced-technology development.

Finally, Sipa plans to develop initiatives to encourage international collaboration, joint ventures and networking with and among public- and private-sector organisations in overseas countries.

The activities under DMA 2010 are listed as including Cyber Game Asia 2010; Toy and Comic Expo Asia 2010; Animation Youth Festival Asia; ASIAN business matching for creative economy; Film Expo Asia; Asia Music Festival 2010; Asia Animation Award; Asia Game Award; Asia Music Award; Venture Capital Forum Asia; Animation & Computer Graphic ASIA Expo; Professional Game Training Asia; and Professional Animation Training Asia.

Sipa has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand to encourage business matching for creative Asian industries with the aim of facilitating international partnerships and co-production programmes. The aim of all this international collaboration is to drive Thailand to the forefront of the coming creative economy.

Thailand's software industry is expected to be worth about Bt66.12 billion this year, up from Bt62.94 billion last year.

Of this, about Bt5 billion is accounted for by animation software, including animation for theatres, TV series, video and DVD releases and film post-production animation. Around Bt7 billion is from game software, including mobile-phone games, PC online games, console online games, handheld games, PC retail games and console games.

However, due to internal changes at Sipa, president Rungruang Limchoopatipa, who is responsible for the plan, is under suspension, so the plan is on hold for the time being and will be revised and adjusted.

Jeerasak Pongpisanupichit, a member of Sipa's board of directors, said Sipa would revise its flagship projects and adjust the details of the execution plan under DMA 2010. He said the revisions were necessary to ensure the plan has the intended impact on the country's economy. It is expected that the revised plan's details will be unveiled early next year.

By next year, Jeerasak said, Sipa aimed to increase the portion of software produced locally from only 20 per cent to 30 per cent. The agency next year will promote more Thai-made software, as well as open-source software development.