December 14, 2022
BANGKOK – The Cabinet approved a draft decree on setting up a national big data institute that will help in Thailand’s development as a data-driven nation.
Deputy government spokesperson Tipanan Sirichana said on Tuesday that the decree was proposed by the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry after its Government Big Data Institute (GBDi) reached the end of its tenure in June.
She said GBDi was set up in July 2019 and gave birth to more than 2,300 information technology personnel and oversaw 104 projects over the past three years. It was also in charge of a platform for the exchange of medical data among hospitals during the Covid-19 crisis.
“Since the timeline for GBDi has expired, DES Ministry has proposed that it be turned into a national big data institute,” she said.
The new institute would be responsible for providing big data analysis for government and private agencies, she said.
This move also matches the government’s Thailand 4.0 scheme and the 20-year national strategy, Tipanan added.
“The national big data institute established under this law will be the central agency driving, analysing and integrating the country’s big data,” she said.
According to her, the institute will have four main objectives:
• Strategizing the use of big data and how it can help with the development of the economy and society.
• Ensuring government and private agencies use big data for such things as developing policies and planning business.
• Providing big data-related analysis for government and private agencies.
• Promoting innovation related to big data.
“This institute will also help the government come up with development policies,” she said.
In addition, the institute will focus on analysing data related to health, environment, tourism, labour and justice sectors in the next five years.
Big data refers to data sets that are too large or too complex to be dealt with by traditional data-processing software.