depa Building Ladprao – The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) by the Digital Startup Institute teamed up with EdVISORY Co., Ltd. (EdVISORY), the Thai developer and provider of educational technology (EdTech), to launch the “JUMPSTART 2020: Jump to Action” online startup business incubation project with an aim to further materialize the digital startup business ideas to turn their dream and ideas into reality. The incubation project will promote the understanding about the fundamentals and how to establish the startup businesses, how to increase the survival rate to grow up to become an international Thai digital startup. The application period runs from now until August 23, 2020.
Dr. Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, President/CEO of depa, said Buddhipongse Punnakanta, Minister of Digital Economy and Society (MDES), assigned the depa to serve as the main state agency to steer the development of Thai digital startups as well as strengthening the competitiveness of Thai digital startups through the incubation and matching processes, including series of support and assistance measures. The COVID-19 pandemic is a key factor that has stimulated businesses across segments to pivot digitization and give priority to developing digital products and services. It also presents opportunities for business operators and entrepreneurs to develop digital-driven businesses in response to the evolving technologies and changing lifestyle of people. The JUMPSTART 2020 project, which has been launched for the second consecutive year, still emphasizes on sharing perspectives and experience of accredited, successful startup experts. They will be key speakers and mentors at the project to reshape startup business ideas of participants and convert a great idea into a reality.
“The depa has particularly prioritized enhancing the potential of digital startups because the next-generation business operators will be the key growth driver for the country’s social and economic development as Thailand is moving forward to a digital society. In fact,
digital-related products and services are ubiquitous in the market where we can freely choose to work with. The depa acknowledged that most of them are from foreign countries, so the depa considers that Thailand should be able to come up with its own digital solutions, products and services in order to achieve sustainability as Thai people will have more efficient digital solution options to reduce reliance on products and services from abroad. To achieve the goal, it needs to be pushed forward by Thai digital startups. Therefore, the depa gears up the launch of the incubation project to strengthen Thai digital startups so that they will learn on how to operate and stabilize the startup businesses and be able to weather the storm and survive in the industry and eventually be able to grow globally,” said the President/CEO of depa.
The “JUMPSTART 2020: Jump to Action” is an online incubation project to help further develop and reshape startup business ideas that can be used in the actual market. The project will be carried out using the “Active Learning” method in which over 30 startup experts and mentors can actively share their views and experience and exchange knowledge with participants throughout the 10-week incubation project. There will be idea-inspiring activities such as Workshop Live Talk and Coaching Session as discussion topics and subjects will be changed weekly. This year’s incubation project, the depa collaborated with the educational technology (EdTech) developer “EdVISORY” to help draw up the overall content and prepare activities for the project with a focus on equipping the participating digital startup firms with fundamental knowledge on all aspects and dimensions of startup businesses.
Dr. Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin added that the depa expects the digital startups incubation project to serve as a thought-provoking mechanism to drive the development of new digital technologies and innovation for startup businesses to use to practically deal with problems and challenges facing the industry. The project is expected to help Thai digital startups with creating business connections and strengthening their partnership network. The project enables digital startups to share their views and also provides them with viable marketing opportunities so that they will become more competitive and stronger enough to help move Thailand forward to the digital economy in a sustainable manner.
The application and all activities of the JUMPSTART 2020 incubation project will be thoroughly conducted online. Interested digital startups and entrepreneurs can submit their applications from now until August 23, 2020 via bit.ly/JUMPSTART-2020. The JUMPSTART 2020 runs August 29 to November 1, 2020. For more information, visit Facebook: depa Thailand or Email: [email protected] or contact Tel 098-276-9549 at 09.00-18.00