depa joins forces with NCC. to Launch Thailand Smart City Expo 2022 with a Common Goal to Improve People's Life via Smarter Cities

Mr. Sakchai Pattarapreechakul, Chief Executive Officer of N.C.C. Management & Development Co Ltd (NCC.), says that the rapid technological development nowadays has played an important role in every aspect of life, and this accelerates the building of smart cities the world over in terms of better residential, public health, and environment. The Thai government also gives importance to developing smart cities continuously in line with the Thailand 4.0 initiative policy cited in the 20-year National Strategy Plan.

From what was mentioned above, N.C.C. has noticed the growing demand for the smart city industry and services related to smart cities. Therefore, the company has decided to hold Thailand Smart City Expo 2022, an international smart city technology event where it allows city administrators and community leaders from domestic and overseas to come and seek out the right products and technologies in the most convenient way.

"NCC is delighted that the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) has endorsed Thailand Smart City Expo 2022. As we have a common goal with the government's policy that continuously promotes smart cities' development nationwide," says Mr.Sakchai.

Smart city experts from every corner of the globe joining this event will share their knowledge and provide ideas of how to select technologies and innovations to best match the identity of each city. The event will be held in the hybrid format from 30 November to 2 December 2022. With over 300 booths, it will cover 7 industries, including energy management, smart home and building system, retail and industrial factory system, healthcare system, telecommunication system, transportation and mobility, and environment management system. In addition, there will be highlight activities, for example, seminars from the smart city and 5G experts, business consultancy services, networking, smart robot demonstrations, and metaverse activities including AR technology and 3D Interactive through "Graffity Mappers" application.

Dr. Passakon Prathombutr, Senior Executive Vice President of Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa), says that Thailand has currently announced 30 smart cities in 23 provinces. It recently got approval to develop additional 15 smart cities in 14 provinces from the smart city sub-committee, chaired by Mr. Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, Minister of Digital Economy and Society (DES), on 5 August 2022.

Dr. Passakon adds that the important mechanism in developing smart cities in Thailand is to integrate all sectors - public, private, local, and people - together to create action and respond to demand. Therefore, the cooperation with N.C.C. to hold Thailand Smart City Expo 2022 will be another key driver to materializing the smart city plan in Thailand.

In Thailand Smart City Expo 2022, depa plans to showcase smart-city technologies and open the platform for the experts to share their knowledge and experiences. Moreover, it will also present The Smart City Solution Awards 2022 to promote smart city technology development too.

Mr. Niti Mekmok, President of Thai IOT Association, says creativity and innovation will transform smart cities in Thailand. IoT, or Internet of Things, is a basis for smart city development as it is necessary for command center systems, city plans, or data-based decision-making for daily-life applications. Related departments or cities must select the right technologies to appropriately develop their organizations, local communities, cities, or even for self-improvement.

For the cooperation with NCC, this time, the Thai IoT Association and its members will present "IoT Pavilion" to showcase the projects that they worked on with the public sector, the universities, the private sector, and startups. Visitors will be able to witness innovations from tech companies of all sizes. Coupled with the highlight to open stage for startups to pitch ideas to investors who might be interested in making investments or purchasing technologies for commercial use. This pitching activity will encourage competition and technology localization to serve demand in Thailand and other countries in the region. Moreover, the Thai IoT Association will hold seminars to share new technologies that smart cities should have and the trend that the industry should pay attention to, for example, BCG (Bio-Circular-Green Economy) and ESG (Environment-Social-Governance). IoT is a significant tool to accelerate the process of changing the city and gearing up the country to be a smart city.

Associate Professor Prapatpong Upala, Director of Smart City Innovative Research Academy, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, cites that the Smart City Innovative Research Academy (SCiRA) is an academy that gathers all knowledge related to smart city development from researchers, so it will cooperate with NCC as a platform to transfer the knowledge from SCiRA to local people to spread out the research and make innovation broader in the society, for example, Bangkok's underground monkey cheek project in Benchakitti Forest Park which can accommodate water up to 100,000 cubic meters to solve flood problem, smart bus stop project which can give a real-time warning of dust pollution, the development of a 21-kilometer skycycle route along with airport rail link to promote tourism, public health and public space development, and green space development project to turn unused land to be learning centers or pocket parks. These researches can be the guidelines for the public sector, especially for local administrative organizations to understand and select the best technologies for their cities.

For anyone interested in Thailand Smart City Expo 2022 can participate in the event from 30 November to 2 December 2022 at Hall 3-4, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. For more information, please call (+66) 2-229-3525, or send an email to [email protected]. Visit an event's website at https://thailandsmartcityexpo.com/