Huawei Senior Vice President Chen Lifang: Building a platform for incubating SMEs and helping Thailand become a regional ICT and digital economy hub

Thailand held its Digital Economy Day in Bangkok on May 26, and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. Chen Lifang, board member and senior vice president of Huawei, delivered a keynote speech. She promised that, in response to the Thai government's call to develop the digital economy, Huawei will begin to build an Open Lab in Thailand in the second half of the year. This program aims to provide local SMEs with a testing and verification, and resource sharing platform. She said that through this program, Huawei hoped to better incubate SMEs and help Thailand grow into a regional ICT and digital economy hub.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha thanked Huawei for its contribution to Thailand's ICT development, as well as the establishment of its new regional headquarters in Thailand. He also expressed the hope that Huawei could forge a deeper partnership with Thailand in several areas such as IT training, technology transfer and job creation, in order to help transform Thailand into a regional ICT hub. PM Prayut also welcomed Huawei in cooperating with the ICT Ministry and other relevant economic sectors in the ICT industry, and in providing constructive advice on the country's future ICT plan.

Huawei has reached an agreement with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology of Thailand that the two parties would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) following this forum. According to this MoU, Huawei will share its global ICT experience with Thailand and offer advice to the country on digital economy development.

Chen also said, "As the global digital economy picks up its pace, ICT has become a source of vitality. Driven by ICT, the world has become more decentralized, full of diverse and personalized needs. And digital economies with higher levels of ICT development are often full of vitality and growth potential. Such economies are often the new centers of the world. In the digital economy, driven by ICT, dramatic changes have taken place in how enterprises survive and develop, as well as in how they manage factors of production. The value and power of IPR and ICT are greater than capital." She added that Huawei is willing to share its successful practices in the global ICT sector with Thailand, leverage its experience in local operations to better serve local needs, and contribute more to the development of Thailand's digital economy.

Chen Lifang, board member and senior vice president of Huawei, delivered a keynote speech

Regarding how a country can leverage ICT to boost digital economic growth, Chen shared three points. First, enhance digital infrastructure to drive sustainable economic growth. For example, governments should enact policies that encourage different sectors to open up and share their existing as well as new infrastructure. This will help reduce the costs of rolling out digital infrastructure. Second, enterprises should embrace digital trends, innovate proactively, and work with governments to boost the digital economy. Enterprises must embrace the trends of ICT development, in order to better compete and grow. Third, explore a viable model for digital economic growth. Thailand has long been known for its rich tourist resources, and the country also has 400,000 registered SMEs. If more of Thailand's SMEs can use digital technologies and unleash their creativity, this would definitely increase employment and economic vitality.

Over the past 18 years since it entered the Thai market, Huawei has been committed to localizing its operations and increasing investment in the country. Over the past five years, Huawei has spent US$650 million in procurement from Thailand. Every year, Huawei indirectly creates over 5,000 jobs for the country. Huawei now hires over 1,800 employees in Thailand, of whom more than 90% are locals. In Thailand, Huawei has established one training center, one regional solution innovation center, 15 spare parts service centers, 23 regional offices, and over 60 device service centers.

The minister of information and communication technology of Thailand, the CEO of Pacific Century Group, and a few other guests delivered keynote speeches on topics such as digital transformation and Digital Thailand. More than 200 people attended the event, including industry leaders and representatives of organizations such as the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of Thailand, and the Association of Thai ICT Industry.