TheMinistry of Digital Economy and Society (Abrv: MDES;Thai:กระทรวงดิจิทัลเพื่อเศรษฐกิจและสังคม,RTGS: Krasuang Dichithan Phuea Setthakit Lae Sangkhom), formerly known as theMinistry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT),Thai:กระทรวงเทคโนโลยีสารสนเทศและการสื่อสาร, is acabinet ministry ofThailand. The MICT was established on 3 October 2002 by the Administrative Reorganisation Act, 2002.[5] The new ministry was created as the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society by the Re-organization of Ministry, Bureau and Department Act, B.E. 2558.[6]
In September 2016, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) was dissolved and replaced by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society. The ministry assumed the responsibilities of the MICT. The MICT's former agencies, theNational Statistical Office of Thailand, theThai Meteorological Department, the Electronic Transactions Development Agency,Thailand Post,TOT, andCAT Telecom, were transferred to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society. The National Disaster Warning Center, formerly under the MICT, was transferred to theInterior Ministry.[7] The MICT's Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) was dissolved and some of its staff transferred to a newly established unit, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency under the MDES.[8]
In 2018, the ministry announced plans to set up a cybersecurity agency and hacker training centre. It planned to recruit at least 1,000 trainers to educate people in 24,700 villages nationwide to use information communication technology (ICT) to construct "national broadband villages".[9]
