Thailand launches Microsoft Elevate AI and Jobs coalition with ministries

Thailand became the first of 19 countries to launch a national coalition under Microsoft's Elevate AI and Jobs model, Microsoft announced on October 15, 2026. The coalition brings together government agencies, employers, a jobs platform and nonprofits to link AI skills training with hiring.

Partners include the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, the Office of the Vocational Education Commission, the Department of Skill Development, the Department of Employment and the Digital Economy Promotion Agency. Industry partners include the Federation of Thai Industries and the Digital Council of Thailand, alongside JobsDB by SEEK, Generation Thailand and the Thai Fund Foundation. The first phase runs for about nine months, from October 2026 to June 2027. It covers a workforce transformation framework, AI learning credentials aligned with the European DigComp 2.2 framework, hackathons and other practical opportunities, and job matching informed by labor demand data. Vocational colleges are expected to bring AI curricula and credentials into classrooms.

Microsoft said its skilling programmes reached more than 2.7 million people in Thailand with digital and AI skills over the previous two years, a figure that is the company's own. The announcement did not set a numerical target for the new initiative.