depa expands Smart City Ambassadors Program into a second year of success — aiming to nurture 150 smart city ambassadors this year.

The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) together with alliances is announcing the plan to expand the Smart City Ambassadors Program into a second round of success. This time, the objective is to nurture 150 young smart city ambassadors selected from 150 areas across the nation by improving their skills and knowledges relevant to the mission. It is anticipated that it will encourage the formation of 150 smart city promotion areas and propel the development of more than 50 smart cities in Thailand.

Mr. Sanon Wangsrangboon, Deputy Governor of Bangkok gave a special speech on the topic "Wider Perspectives on Smart City: Smart City, Smart People, and Smart Management with Technology" at the opening ceremony of the 2nd Smart City Ambassadors (SCA) Program.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, President/CEO of depa, revealed that the first SCA Program where 22 smart city ambassadors from 22 provinces were successfully nurtured and trained to play a part in smart city development alongside local agencies has proved to be a huge success with a total of 49 new projects and project expansions worth around 1.170 billion baht.

Given the success, this year depa as the major organizer is partnering with VIA Group (Thailand), Jumbo Electronics, and Cloudee Telecom, to expand the program into a second round of success. The mission is to search for young people with passion and interest in improving their hometown and to train them to work in collaboration with their local agencies. This program is packed with intensive activities both online and on-site that promote the required body of knowledge and skills among the participants. During the program, the 150 young talents will work in close collaboration with 150 smart city captains from 150 areas representing both private and public sectors.

"The SCA Program aims at supporting smart city development with new perspectives from the young people and at encouraging local employment that draws young talents back to their hometowns. The participants will be trained to foster their digital skills and fundamental skills in smart city development before they become 'smart city ambassadors' working at a participating organization from either the public or private sector for 12 months with the local staff as their mentors. They will be able to employ their knowledge to tackle urban issues, find solutions to their city that are more on point, and drive smart city development in each of their areas. It is envisioned by depa that the second round of the SCA Program will result in 150 areas with growing smart city development and 50 emerging smart cities across the nation, as well as other projects that help to improve quality of life," said the CEO of depa.

Activities under the 2nd SCA Program include:

Pre-bootcamp Session: It is a session that prepares the participants to become smart city ambassadors with online classes featuring special instructors from both depa and its partners. This session aims to provide an overall understanding of smart city development ? highlighting roles and responsibilities of a smart city ambassador, challenging activities that lie ahead, concepts relevant to digital technology and smart city development, basic skills at work and for project management, and people skills, as well as the co-creation framework.

Smart City Ambassadors Bootcamp: It is a 168-hour session packed with intensive activities that range from talks and lectures from leading experts, competency and soft skill building ? including topics such as smart city planning, project management, how to work in a large organization with diversity, and innovations, technologies, and digital tools that will enable new possibilities to smart city development and help to improve quality of life in a sustainable fashion.

Smart City Ambassadors Mentoring Session: It is a session that provides mentorship and consultations about work, digital innovations and technologies, project development, and how to write a project proposal.

Smart City Ambassadors Online Knowledge Update: This is a monthly session aimed at providing updates about what has been done and what are the new innovations in smart city development by experts from the program partners.

Smart City Project Pitching: It is a session where the young talents showcase their will and vision through their project pitching under the topic "Co-creation for the New Challenges" ? given that the project will be carried out under the collaboration of the smart city ambassadors themselves and the local city staff as their mentors. Innovations, technologies, and digital tools will be employed in accordance with each of the 7 aspects of smart city development. The winning team will be awarded prizes in cash and potential funding for a pilot project from private organizations who are the program sponsors.

In addition, the opening ceremony of the 2nd Smart City Ambassadors Program will feature a panel talk on the topic "Co-creation for the New Challenges" to promote a better understanding among audiences and the young talents interested in smart city development. For further information, please visit Facebook Page: Smart City Thailand Office.