A Thai Space technology start-up is on track to developing its first Internet of Things (IoT) product that will be powered by a 5G network, according to a recent report.
The start-up’s chief executive revealed at Thailand Digital Big Bang that the company is now working on finalizing the product’s design and functionality.
The awareness of IoT is growing in Thailand, but adoption is still at the early stage. Despite this, the start-up is joining the IoT bandwagon because it is optimistic that companies and industries will realize the business value of IoT when 5G network becomes available to the company in the future.
According to the company’s leadership, the start-up is planning to develop an IoT product like smart apparel to collect historical health data to be used in medical diagnosis of the user.
It was further revealed that the company plans to carry out future product tests at IoT Institute inside of Digital Park Thailand, a technology hub which will be built on a 960,000 sqm land in Sriracha in the eastern province of Chonburi.
The IoT Institute, scheduled to be completed in 2020, will provide companies and start-ups a space to research, develop and test out IoT solutions for agriculture, manufacturing, e-health and e-commerce. The Thai government hopes that the institute will promote the tech start-up ecosystem in Thailand to support the country’s transformation into a digital economy and its vision to become an innovation hub in Southeast Asia.
By working at IoT Institute, the start-up is supporting the government in its digital transformation efforts; its leadership believes that the IoT product the start-up will develop in the future will help improve the quality of life for those in Thailand.
According to a study, Thailand’s IoT spending in 2014 was amounted to THB2 billion and is forecasted to increase to THB32 billion by 2020.
In the future, the proliferation of IoT in Thailand is expected to be among the highest in Southeast Asia due to lower initial IoT spending in the past. As IoT technology becomes more common, it’s expected that there will be a shift towards decentralized computing, and global citizens will see more automation and lesser human-computer intervention.
However, the IoT market in Thailand is not without its challenges.
Privacy is a major challenge to the adoption of IoT. With smart and connected devices embedded in business processes and tied to critical functions, leaders, innovators and creators of tech must ensure that the IoT systems that are developed are securely encrypted.
Nonetheless, the adoption of IoT is forecasted to grow in Thailand, with the majority of this spending taking place in the manufacturing and logistics sectors.
It definitely will develop on multiple fronts. Smart cities, industrial automation, and increasing number of 5G-enabled mobile devices in the future will be key factors in the growing demand for IoT, according to experts.
According to Thailand’s International Telecommunications Union, the mission is to prompt the Thai economy and society through digital transformation.
Part of the ways in which the government plans to achieve this mission is by promoting, supporting and implementing the human resource development with regard to digital industry and innovation, and by promoting and supporting other public agencies or private companies to achieve the development of digital industry and innovation (private companies like the Space tech start-up).
Thus, the Thai government will facilitate research development and innovation, thereby, expanding and promoting success models. This will then raise the standard of living of the average Thai citizen through the implementation of the various incubated tech projects.