Thai smart-city startup receives United Nations sustainability honors

Thailand-based smart-city solutions provider 5G Catalyst Technologies (5GCT) has been selected as a global excellence leader for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), making it the first Thai startup to receive the honor.

5GCT booth at Thailand 5G summit last month / Photo credit: 5GCT

This development comes after the company’s joint exhibition with the National Telecom of Thailand (NT) at the Thailand 5G summit last month. During the event, 5GCT briefed the country’s prime minister, Prayut Chan-ocha, on its plan to build smart cities across the country.

Founded in 2020 by serial entrepreneur and ex-Gobi Partners exec Shannon Kalayanamitr, 5GCT provides a digital data platform for smart cities. The all-in-one system allows urban planners to collect, visualize, and analyze city ecosystem data to enhance living standards and promote sustainable growth.

In the same year it was founded, the company partnered with NT to launch Thailand’s first official 5G-enabled smart city pilot program in the Ban Chang district of Rayong province. A commercial contract with the district was signed after the trial, with phase one of the projects expected to be completed in Q4 this year.

5GCT is currently working with three cities in Thailand and aims to expand to 10 cities by 2024.

“With the recent international recognition from the SDG Labs in Davos and World Urban Forum, we aim to progressively bring Thailand and all of its citizens’ livelihoods to the global standards,” Kalayanamitr said in a statement.

In 2017, the Thai government unveiled its 20-year Thailand 4.0 initiative, which aims to build 100 smart cities by 2024, among other efforts. The plan resulted in the creation of 15 smart cities nationwide as of December last year.

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