Low spending on research and development, coupled with "shallow" digital infrastructure that includes some of the world's slowest 4G speeds, will impede the progress of Thailand's drive towards a digital future, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
The country placed 49th out of 82 countries surveyed in the Technological Readiness Ranking for 2018‑22 released recently by the EIU. Within the Asia Pacific region, it scores above average in subcategories such as mobile-phone subscriptions, scope of e-government and the quality of its e-commerce business environment.
However, the country lags in terms of patent applications, R&D investment and research institutions. The country is poised to make only gradual progress on this front as it implements its long-term Thailand 4.0 plans, meaning that it will not increase its advantage over other countries in the region.
"The fundamental criterion for assessing technological readiness in our assessment is access to the internet," said the EIU. In this regard, Thailand has a middling rank: there were an estimated 37.1 internet users per 100 population in 2017, which is above the average for regional neighbours such as India (36.5) and Indonesia (27.7), but below that of Malaysia (81.2).
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/telecom/1497786/