Four Smart Initiatives from Thailand Recognized as Finalists in IDC’s Fifth Annu

Four Smart Initiatives from Thailand Recognized as Finalists in IDC’s Fifth Annual Smart City Asia Pacific Awards 2019

A total of 57 projects across Asia/Pacific* competing to be named the best in 12 Smart City functional categories

BANGKOK, May 16th, 2019 – IDC Government Insights Asia/Pacific announced that four Smart City initiatives from Thailand have been chosen as finalists in IDC’s fifth annual Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) 2019. These smart initiatives will be competing with 53 other projects across Asia Pacific to be named as the best in 12 smart city functional categories.

Udon Thani Smart City project has been chosen as one of the finalists under the category of “Economy Development, Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture, Open Spaces”. Udon Thani is known for its famous historical and natural attraction sites such as Ban Chiang Archaeological Site. The private sector in Udon Thani province has developed an application 'Beyond Udon City' to provide tourists a lot of important information about Udon Thani. Launched in December 2017, the application provides easy access to public communication channels, easy-to-use and shares information/content that is creative in a modern way. Currently, the local government is preparing a plan to build an intelligent operation center that leverages on Augmented Reality (AI) technology to increase the convenience for users to access information of various attractions and efficiency of tourism management.

Khon Kaen Smart Living Lab: Long Term Care Digital Innovation named as one of the finalists under the category of ‘Public Health and Social Services’. Long Term Care Digital Innovation is an automated basic health data collection system for the elderly which uses smart technology for the convenience of medical personnel and increase access to accurate public health information. Khon Kaen Municipality aims to develop the elderly health database system, which can connect and exchange information using a smart card. The project is a joint effort by various stakeholders, including Khon Kaen University (supporting the development of health database systems and production of the smart cards) Ministry of Public Health (for setting up the cloud management system), Khon Kaen Smart Living Lab, MaKer Club, Thai Health Tech, NESBIA, National Health Security Office (NHSO), etc.   

Chiang Mai Smart City (Policing Mobility Real-Time Crime Center) has been chosen as one of the finalists under ‘Public Safety – Smart Policing’. The Chiang Mai local government started policing mobility real-time crime centers to increase the information and communication dissemination at the same promoting peace and order to people and tourists.  Part of upgrading Chiang Mai to be a Smart City is the establishment of the Provincial Police Region 5, which is the first unit to integrate multiple platforms and links.  The project includes setting up a closed-circuit television systems (CCTV) to manage safety and traffic within Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, and Mae Hong Son Provinces. Currently, the Prime Minister’s office is preparing an order to appoint a committee to determine and analyze the effective use of the CCTV system and provide recommendations for future installations for additional CCTV cameras.   

Khon Kaen Smart Living Lab: Khon Kaen City Bus has been named as a finalist under ‘Transportation – Transport Infrastructure’. As a growing city, Khon Kaen has had to encourage and develop the land, air, and sea transport for a better flow of traffic. Several agencies worked together to recently establish Khon Kaen’s City Bus line to provide services to travelers, connecting them to the important points in the city, including the 3 bus stations in the province. This smart bus service comes built-in with free WiFi, CCTV, and GPS, and is connected to the KK Transit application.

“We’ve reached half a decade milestone of benchmarking the best Smart City projects in the Asia Pacific region, This year, we have re-defined our Smart City award categories globally to provide consistent insights for cross-regional best practices sharing and benchmarking, and continue to identify Smart City successes in Thailand.“ says Gerald Wang, Head of IDC Government & Health Insights, Asia Pacific.

“Smart Cities are becoming more comprehensive stewards of resources as urban populations rise and as our physical and digital worlds become more interconnected. Smart Cities must not only ensure physical safety and access to physical necessities but also protect and provide digital resources, such as digital services, data, and collaboration tools offered in systems that are secure from cyber-attack or ethical misuse.  This year’s SCAPA finalists from Thailand have demonstrated a variance of successes in attaining digital transformation in an urban ecosystem that meets environmental, financial, and social outcomes.” says Jun-Fwu Chin, Head of Operations, IDC Thailand.

Jun-Fwu further added, “We believe that a Smart City success begins to be developed when multiple smart initiatives are coordinated to leverage technology investments across an entire city, use common platforms to decrease service time/maintenance costs, share data across systems, and tie IT investments clearly to smart missions. DEPA continues to play an important role as facilitator to enable both private and public sectors working toward Smart City successes in Thailand, being in the mix of all the finalists.”

The IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) was created to identify, benchmark and gather citizen opinion through public voting on the best projects each year across 12 functional smart city strategic domains. It is an intensive six-month process that tracks and evaluates hundreds of smart city initiatives in Asia/Pacific.

The award categories are: 
•   Administration
•   Civic Engagement
•   Digital Equity and Accessibility
•   Economic Development, Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture, Open Spaces
•   Education
•   Public Health and Social Services
•   Public Safety (Disaster Response / Emergency Management and Smart Policing)
•   Smart Buildings
•   Smart Water
•   Sustainable Infrastructure
•   Transportation (Connected & Autonomous Vehicles, Public Transit, Ride-Hailing/Ride-Sharing, and Transportation Infrastructure)
•   Urban Planning and Land Use

Out of over 170 smart city project submissions from public and private enterprises in the Asia Pacific, only the top 57 projects were named as finalists and qualify for public voting as the second phase in the selection of the annual IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA).

IDC invites the public to vote on these finalists at www.idc.com/ap/smartcities through the 28th of May 2019.  Citizens who participate in public voting will stand a chance to win a Samsung Galaxy S10+ through an electronic raffle draw to be held after the Asia/Pacific winners have been announced.
 
The Asia/Pacific winners for each category are decided based on IDC analysts’ benchmarking, public voting, and judging from an International Advisory Council. The winners will be announced in July 2019 with their projects pitted against the other regional winners in IDC’s smart city competitions around the world for the opportunity to be named the global IDC smart city champion for one of 12 categories.   

For more information on the methodology for the Smart City Asia Pacific Awards, please contact Gerald Wang at gwang@idc.com. For public voting-related questions or media queries, please contact Akash Tiwari atiwari@idc.com Visit the Smart City website www.idc.com/ap/smartcities for updates.

About IDC Government Insights
IDC Government Insights assists government policy, program, and IT leaders, as well as the suppliers who serve them, in making more effective technology decisions by providing accurate, timely, and insightful fact-based research and consulting services. Staffed by senior analysts with decades of government and IT industry experience, our global research analyzes and advises on business and technology issues facing the Federal/Central and local/provincial Governments.  International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology market. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology, media, research, and events company. For more information, please visit www.idc-gi.com

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC.