Global multinational Huawei Technologies has joined hands with partners in the public and private sectors to enhance digital skills among Thais as the country is expected to face a shortfall of 500,000 people with advanced digital skills by 2030.
The move forms part of efforts to push Thailand's digital economy to contribute 30% of the country's GDP by 2027.
"Talent development has been in our strategic focus and investment. It is one of our four prioritised areas in Thailand, in addition to intelligence infrastructure, cloud, in which 700 million baht has been invested, and digital power for storage and solar solutions that supports sustainability," said Abel Deng, president of Huawei Asia-Pacific Carrier Business Department.
Mr Deng was speaking at the Thailand Talent Transformation Symposium yesterday, jointly organised by the Digital Economy and Society Ministry and the Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Ministry. Mr Deng was formerly chief executive of Huawei Thailand.
"Thailand is one of the top markets for Huawei and we continue to grow there and steer the country towards 4.0," said Mr Deng.
Huawei established the ICT Academy in 2019 and has trained over 60,000 ICT professionals and 2,600 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
It recently held ICT Competition 2022, aimed at elevating digital skills among the new generations, targeting those enrolled in university.
The company has also teamed up with 37 leading local higher education institutions in order to help develop talent.
"Digital talent development requires collaboration among all stakeholders in public and private partnerships," Mr Deng said.
"We aim to train over 10,000 people in Thailand in 2023," said Mr Deng.
The company partnered with the two ministries and Roland Berger, a global education management consultancy, to create a white paper for the development of a digital workforce in the country.
The key to pursuing digital skill development in Thailand involves policy making, skill enhancement, job support and matching, infrastructure development and financial support.
The whitepaper indicates that although Thailand has a high level of readiness among its citizens to embrace digital services, the country still lacks in-house development capabilities.
Some 20.5 million members of the workforce are expected to only possess basic and fundamental digital skills in 2027.
Supachai Pathumnakul, deputy permanent secretary of higher education, science, research and innovation, said the country could face a shortage of 500,000 people with advanced digital skills by 2030, especially for 5G, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and cloud.
"We have to develop talent and competency that responds to demands," he said.
