• 
• 

A deep valley hemmed in by high mountain ranges has long kept Mae Hong Son isolated from the outside world, but efforts by a group of technologists and scientists are turning the place into a new connected land.

An area which is mostly populated by hill tribes is now being developed so people will not only have better literacy but also the ability to develop their own technology to serve local needs.

As the province is still fresh and no IT businesses have located there, the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec), which first introduced IT to Mae Hong Son ten years ago, has a plan to develop the province into what it calls IT Valley.

Similar to Silicon Valley in the United States, the Mae Hong Son IT Valley would be designed as a place for technology development, said Nectec's director Pansak Siriruchatapong. He said the main purpose of the new valley would not serve all developers, only local people in the province who could create technology to serve local needs.

"We want to make Mae Hong Son self reliant in technology. Instead of buying and using technology developed outside the province, why not encourage local people to develop technology to serve their own needs," Pansak said.

The idea to develop the isolated land is Nectec's plan for the next ten years. Nectec first started IT development in the province a decade ago by bringing computers and the Internet to the community. Since technology at that time was flourishing in the cities, the plan was intended to solve the problem of the so-called digital divide.

A decade has passed, and there have been many changes there.

From knowing nothing about IT, Pansak said people had better IT literacy while they could utilise technology to improve their life.

Even though Mae Hong Son still retains its natural beauty, the small northern centre can embrace new technology well. The town has high-speed Internet available in the Internet cafes while adults and children no longer feel intimidated when they face a computer or the Internet.

A group of schoolgirls from Mae La Noi district came to show their science talent in Mae Hong Son's science and technology exhibition with a project to develop bio-fertiliser. They said they used the Internet as a primary source to search for information when they worked on a science project, and it was really useful.

"We searched for the information we wanted from the Web so we developed the knowledge for further project development," the girls said.

The Internet has become a tool for Mae Hong Son people - especially school children - to keep in touch with the outside world. However in the early days, the development of computers and the Internet was not easy.

"It was really hard to bring new technology to local people who knew nothing about it at all," Pansak said. "We faced many problems, especially basic infrastructure and the people themselves. We decided to first educate teachers on the new technology and then encouraged them to use IT in teaching and learning systems."

Teachers in Mae Hong Son can now use IT to develop educational content and courses while the children enjoy using the Internet to acquire new knowledge. Pansak said once the overall IT literacy of people in Mae Hong Son improved, the next step was to think about how to help them develop something to add to their existing knowledge.

"We thought that if they could eventually make their own technology for sale in the province, it would be a way to strengthen them so they could rely on themselves," Pansak said.

To move Mae Hong Son towards IT Valley, better basic infrastructure, especially in communications and electricity, is required. As high mountains surround the city, wireless communication should be implemented while solar cells could be used to improve the unstable electricity system.

Nectec and other related organisations are studying ways to set the direction for IT Valley development in the area, and they hope to find a niche and a focal point for technology, so Mae Hong Son can make further development.

Apart from encouraging people in Mae Hong Son to build their own technology to serve local needs, Pansak said the plan also covered allowing them to receive outsourcing jobs.

"We're exploring the strength of Mae Hong Son for IT development. We think this remote city can be developed into a centre of open-source software or something related to animation," he said.

The project is also receiving assistance from a local software company, Softsquare 1999, which plans to send experts to train local people in software.

Pansak said the company also planned that if local people had better skills in the area, it would outsource software-development projects to them.

"In the next ten years, we hope to see people in the city being able to build their own IT products and services for sale within the province and also outside," he added.

As the majority of people in Mae Hong Son are Thai Yai, Pansak also sees opportunities lying ahead in the next decade for people in Mae Hong Son to do IT business along the northern border with Burma.

It's estimated that there are around 15 million Thai Yai people in Burma. In the future, if Burma becomes more open, there could be chances for people in Mae Hong Son to sell IT services there.