With the theme ‘Building a Competitive Workforce for the Digital Economy’, the annual ICDL Asia Digital Literacy Day 2018 took place on 6 September 2018, at the C-Asean Auditorium in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was graced by H.E. Air Chief Mar. Dr. Prachin Chantong, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and Minster of Justice, His Excellency Tony Cotter, Ambassador Designate of Ireland to Thailand, Mr. Damien O’Sullivan, CEO of ICDL Foundation and many other distinguished guest speakers internationally and from Thailand.
Near to 300 guests attended the event which aims to create greater awareness while discussing prevalent topics around the progressive digital trends and readiness in Asia.
H.E. Air Chief Mar. Dr. Prachin Chantong presented his keynote speech and shared on the importance of digital skills for local Thai people and how this topic is highly relevant in this innovation-driven economy age where technology is widely used. The government has been strongly supporting human capital development since the announcement of the ambitious national development model called “Thailand 4.0”. Thailand 4.0 policy is aimed at developing Thailand into a high-income country. To propel this transformation forward and promote innovation, the policy concentrates on digital improvements that enhance the quality of life and at the same time promotes productivity and efficiency. The Thailand Digital Economy and e-Government Development Plan (2016-2018) has been prepared as a blueprint for revolutionizing government operations, business practices and people’s lifestyles.
“This is in line with Thailand’s vision on embarking on a journey towards Digital Thailand 4.0 – which envisions digital transformation in the country. The national vision is to incorporate the use of more technology into the market to enhance efficiency. The Certification tests will also ensure that the IT proficiency standard of civil servants and incoming labor force reaches the workplace standard requirements.”
H.E. Air Chief Mar. Dr. Prachin Chantong, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and Minster of Justice
Another keynote speech was presented by Chief Executive of ICDL Foundation, Mr Damien O’Sullivan. He shared on how Asia is preparing to be the strongest driving force for the Industry 4.0 that shapes the automation and data exchange technologies around the world. Countries around Asia including China, Singapore and Thailand are preparing their workforce methodically to take on the ever-dynamic Digital Economy. Skill, Reskill and Upskill is the way to build our current and future workforce to become a Digital Workforce. These could be done through simple methodology – A.B.C (Access, Build and Certify) and ICDL is the stepping stone in this important enterprise.
Distinguished guests speakers for the first panel discussion discussed topic and sharing insights on “How different industries are shifting its focus and strategy for Digitization and Industry 4.0?”. The speakers are Mr Somboo Anantathanasarn – Head of Product Lifecycle Business Unit, Digital Factory, Siemens Limited Thailand, Mrs. Waleeporn Sayasit – Corporate Communications Director, T.C.C. Technology (Thailand), Mr. Subash Palaniappan – Vice President, Human Capital, Maybank Group (Malaysia) and Ms. Sivakami D/O Gopalakrishnan – Senior Director, NTUC LearningHub – Employability Campus (Singapore).
And on the second panel discussion, we have Mr. Anusorn Lubpanagawgiart – Advisor of Ministry of Digital Economy – OHEC (Thailand), Mr. Jimmy Mao – Founder and Chairman of the Board for ZBG Education, ZBG Group (China), Dr. Kongkiat Hirankerd – CEO, The Sun Plex Engineering and Software (Thailand) and Mr. Shim Jaedok – Business & Operation Manager, Korea Productivity Center (South Korea) discussing topic on “Transformation of mindset to prepare current & future workforce for the digital economy.”
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