Policy

Thai govt unveils first open-source software development roadmap

By Amelia Kwok | 9 October 2008

The Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) has developed Thailand’s first open-source software-development roadmap to transform the country into a leading open-source development centre by 2011.

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The three-year roadmap, starting next year, is aimed at increasing the number of local software companies developing open-source software, in a bid to grow its market share in the country and reduce dependence on imported proprietary software.

According to SIPA open-source software manager Paitoon Butri, by 2011, there will be at least 100 local open-source software companies, up from just 20 companies at present. And by then, about 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the country’s software industry will develop open-source software.

The plan is divided into three phases. The first phase aims to build confidence in using open-source software among local users, including manufacturing, services and automobile enterprises as well as government and education sectors, along with setting up open-source software companies.

“In the first stage, we need to put in tremendous effort to develop the open-source software industry,” said Paitoon.

Meanwhile, SIPA will promote the implementation of open-source software. The agency will match users with developers and encourage them to bring open-source software into practice. SIPA will also provide funding for the implementation of open-source projects.

“To encourage the creation and use of open-source software, we need to promote successful cases of its development and usage. We will match users and developers, and provide them the funds to implement solutions in the actual business environment,” said Paitoon.

The agency has allocated a budget of about US$1.5 million a year to encourage open-source software development and achieve its roadmap goals. The agency also plans to support two main types of open-source software companies - those that offer software products and solutions, such as infrastructure software, application software and desktop or front-end software, and companies that provide software services for customised and enterprise

The second phase will see the agency strengthen the open-source software industry by providing marketing support to local software houses for targeting the domestic and international markets.

“Once we increase their numbers, we then need to improve their quality levels. This will be done through seminars, business matching and international road shows,” said Paitoon.

Finally, the third phase aims to take Thai open-source software to the worldwide market.

The agency expects at least 10 out of 100 local open-source software companies to reach the international market in the near future.