Agency, Trade Groups Tie up for Exports

The Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) has teamed up with the Board of Investment (BoI), Department of Export Promotion, (DEP) the International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD), and Thai Animation and Computer Graphic Association (TACGA) to promote Thai software exports.

The collaboration is aimed at helping Thai software companies gain prominence on the global stage, generate significant revenues.

Sipa's president Rungruang Limchoopatipa said that the agency launched a programme for promoting software exports early this year, but in order to increase its effectiveness, it collaborated with international trade and investment partners from the government sector.

Under the collaboration, Sipa will promote Thai software companies globally through trade visits, road shows, exhibitions and business matching, with support from the Department of Export Promotion, which has 50 offices across the globe.

Meanwhile, ITD's executive director Sorajak Kasemsuvan said the institute will research trends in software exhibitions and trade shows worldwide. This information will help Sipa plan its strategy more effectively.

Currently, Sipa has helped 172 Thai software companies gain entry into six Asia-Pacific countries -- Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. This in turn has translated into deals worth Bt2.3 billion.

"There are a lot of opportunities out there in the global market. We just need to create software according to the needs of the market. For example, Vietnam needs enterprise software, Laos needs software applications for small- and medium-sized enterprises, and e-governance software, Korea needs online games, and Japan requires animation and digital-content creation software," Rungruang said.

Sipa's president said the strategy is to focus on the demand pool rather than push supply. However, the agency will drive the supply side simultaneously.

The agency is working with Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Digital Content Association of Japan, to establish a digital-content development centre in Thailand to take on outsourcing jobs from Japan.

"Japan has a game-production centre in Taiwan and an animation center in Philippines. The country is now looking to set up a production base in Thailand. At present, it is studying its requirements and collecting required information. We expect Sipa to sign a memorandum of understanding with MITI by early next year," Rungruang said.

Sipa plans to drive the supply side through collaboration with Japanese and Canadian digital-content academies. Under the plan, it will set up digital-content training centres in Thailand to develop more local animators.

"It will offer a fast track for animators," Rungraung said.

At present, the total number of local animators trained by these academies is about 3,000. This number is expected to increase rapidly after the collaboration with Sipa.

On the demand side, Sipa and BoI aim to make the establishment of new local software companies. BoI's director of Electronics and Electric Industries Division Seksan Ruangwohan said that role of BoI is to aid the set of companies by offering an 8-year tax exemption without ceiling.

  "We hope to strengthen the local software industry by developing more indigenous software companies," Seksan said.

So far, BoI has provided investment support worth Bt4 billion to 435 software projects. Out of the 435 projects, about 60 per cent are Thai software companies, whereas the rest are foreign and joint-venture software companies.

"By the end of this year, we expect to increase the number of software projects getting support from BoI to 500 and the total investment value to Bt4.3 billion," Seksan said.