We had the honour and privilege to host 10 distinguished local enterprise leaders on day 1 of Asia IoT Business Platform - the 13th edition in Bangkok, Thailand - who were discussing IoT and digital transformation in the country. From telecommunications, industrial and manufacturing, to transport and logistics, we heard particularly interesting topics with regard to the opportunities as well as challenges regarding IoT adoption.

The Saensuk municipality has joined hands with Dell Corporation and Intel Microelectronic (Thailand) to kick off Thailand's first smart city for elderly people in Chon Buri. 

It was a hectic past week for us at Asia IoT Business Platform as we hosted press briefing sessions in both Bangkok and Jakarta. At the same time, we also concluded our annual IoT survey which looks at the perspectives of local enterprises and organizations in Southeast Asia pertaining to IoT deployment and implementation.

The next time you chug down the ever-popular Chang beer in Thailand, you will be consuming the fruit of robots’ labour. Thai Beverage Group (ThaiBev) and Charoen Pokphand (C.P.), two of Thailand’s—and Southeast Asia’s—biggest F&B conglomerates, are planning to develop robots to respond to the Thailand 4.0 scheme.

Thailand’s move to become the region’s digital infrastructure hub has been strengthened by several Internet of Things (IoT) projects and initiatives. From the deployment of long-range IoT network...

I was in Phuket for the past few days. Being a complete stranger to the island with a language barrier, what helped me get around Phuket was this application called Grab. Grab uses an IoT revolutionised fleet to operate their on-demand services. This has made it possible for people to simply tap their smart phone and have a cab arrive at their location in the minimum possible time.

A recent study by analyst firm IDC showed that Malaysian organisations are lagging behind their ASEAN counterparts in the digital transformation stakes. 

What good is a market if there is no prospect? Lucky for Industrial IoT solution providers that are looking to access the Thai enterprise IoT market, the manufacturing and industrial sector in Thailand appears to be in a pretty good shape. It is no surprise that Thailand has always been a manufacturing giant, not only in Southeast Asia, but in the world. The Thai economy, which has traditionally been based on agricultural exports, has transformed within the past few decades. Presently, the industrial sector constitutes a substantial share of Thailand’s economy.

Cities around the world are beginning to understand the huge potential of the Internet of Things (IoT). Thailand is no different, with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society looking to leverage on the Internet of Things to turn Phuket into a smart city by 2020.

In 2016, SMEs industry in Thailand has grown up to 5.3% to account for 41.1% of Thailand’s GDP. SME accounted for more than 80% of employment as well. This highlights the importance of SME in Thailand’s economy.

With the vision of creating the Thailand 4.0, Thai government has introduced the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DE) in place of previous Ministry of Information Communications Technology (ICT). DE Ministry takes over all responsibilities of the ICT Ministry, National Statistics Office, Software Industry Promotion Agency, Electronic Transactions Development Agency, Thai National Meteorological Department and Thailand Post, as well as oversight of state-owned telcos TOT and CAT Telecom. The National Disaster Warning Centre, previously under the supervision of the ICT Ministry, is the only agency that was transferred to the Interior Ministry.

You thought that Singapore is the only country that is capable of harnessing technology to create a sophisticated and smart city? In my previous article, we have seen some great initiatives in Malaysia (Cyberjaya) and Indonesia (Jakarta Smart City Lounge). ASEAN remains to be ambitious in realizing its smart cities. Here, we look at the smart city initiatives in Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Durians are native to South East Asia and widely known as the "King of Fruits". Alfred Russel Wallace, a 19th century British naturalist described durian flesh as ‘a rich custard highly flavored with almonds’.

By now you would have heard of the Internet of Things (IoT)—billions of devices connected and communicating with each other and with businesses—and how it promises dramatic enhancements in efficiency, opportunities for new products and business models, and the potential for greater customer intimacy.

In 2009, agriculture accounted for 29.5% of employment in the country and Turkey is considered to be one of the leading countries in the world in the field of food and agriculture, being the world leader in the production of dried figs, hazelnuts, sultanas/raisins and dried apricots.

These days, we see communication service providers (CSPs) getting increasingly actively involved in the IoT space. Being at the core of IoT value chain, telecommunications and IT service providers can bring together the large ecosystem of partners and speed up the time to market for IoT.

In our day and age technical advances are occurring in increasing frequency, making it harder for customers to understand which product or service or which combination of products and services can offer value to their business.

To address urban challenges such as pollution, energy efficiency, security, healthcare, traffic, transportation, etc., smart city initiatives worldwide are increasingly (well - they have to be) focused on the IoT.

According to IDC, manufacturing is the sector that will lead the way in worldwide IoT spending with $165.6 billion total in 2015. Vernon Turner, SVP and IoT Research Fellow states that “manufacturing has been connecting his supply chains, products, customers, and even workers for some time now, which makes a good fit for IoT deployments, as they really embrace the value of business outcomes”.

The Internet of Things (IoT), a concept that describes a state where every day physical objects will be connected to the internet and be able to identify themselves to other devices has become increasingly prominent in every industry. According to Gartner 6.4 billion connected "Things" will be in use in 2016, which is an increase of 30% to 2015.

Through conversations with IT executives from enterprises in the region since 2014, we saw great interest in cloud, data and the corresponding data analytics that can unlock most potential in businesses.

IoT is nothing fundamentally new as an invention. It has been there for ages in limited avatar. The closest or easiest examples to pick up will be various equipment's in thermal power plants monitored and controlled through control systems; Centralized traffic control systems changing signal times based on volume of traffic or capturing shots of traffic law violation. Certainly these use cases were circumventing on industrial or large scale set ups with connections limited to LAN or WAN in the past.

Internet of Things (IoT) technology will be ready take off in Thailand next year, boosted by the arrival of fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband networks and the proliferation and affordability of of internet-connected devices, say IT analysts.

We spent a large part of the year in the cities of Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta & Kuala Lumpur speaking to local enterprises about this (too) broad & (too) overused term: the Internet of Things (IoT). We discovered very quickly that while IoT seems to be very much over/wrongly-used in the English speaking world, there really isn't a direct local translation in these 4 countries.

According to Sigvart Von Eriksen, CMO of DTAC in an interview at the 4^th edition of Asia IoT Business Platform, in 4-5 years’ time we will see more than 400 million connected devices in Thailand alone – while we are still below 1 million right now. He is convinced that the IoT market in Thailand will explode in near future, which would not come as a surprise given the active role government is playing.

Driving adoption of such technology is key but the question is, how do we drive the adoption of IoT technology? Apart from simplifying it for consumers and end-users as well as making the technology more 'intuitive', raising awareness and building knowledge is of essence. This is where our Asia IoT Business Platforms play a key and major role. It is the platform where end-users and solution providers convene for two days of knowledge-sharing, exchange, and networking to progress together and bring the future closer.

The 4th edition of the Asia IoT Business Platform was held from 28 to 29 May 2015 at Amari Watergate Bangkok, Thailand. It was the first time for the conference to be hosted in Thailand and once again, it was a resounding success.

After seeing success in India, Intel Corporation hopes to aid in Thailand’s ‘digital economy’ plan. The company will use its knowledge and technologies to improve digital literacy.

Thailand's government has released eight proposals that aim to underpin the digital economy. But will they deter private investment?