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Good practice Imported

Thimphu TechPark — Bhutan's World Bank-Backed First IT/ITES Park

Bhutan · Thimphu · See the Bhutan profile · See the Thimphu profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 89% 48/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Built with World Bank Private Sector Development Project support and opened in 2012, Bhutan's first IT park now employs 717 Bhutanese across eight resident companies, but 538 of those jobs sit with a single US anchor tenant, Scan Cafe.

717
Bhutanese employed at park
8
Resident companies
538
Jobs at single anchor tenant (Scan Cafe)
45
Jobs at iSOFT call-centre
42
Jobs at Bhutan Telecom contact centre

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Druk Holding & Investments (DHI) / Thimphu TechPark Limited
Period
2012-present
Keywords
IT/ITES-BPO, industrial park, digital economy diversification, SME infrastructure

Context

Bhutan's Ministry of Information & Communications developed Thimphu TechPark, the country's first IT/ITES park, with support from the World Bank's Private Sector Development Project, aiming to diversify an economy historically dependent on hydropower and agriculture.

Objectives

The project aimed to build IT/ITES infrastructure and, through the World Bank project's skills component, train Bhutanese youth for ICT/ITES roles to attract resident technology and business-process companies.

Activities

The park opened on 7 May 2012 and is now owned and operated by Druk Holding & Investments (DHI); a second building was added by 2019 to accommodate growth in resident companies.

Results

As of the latest public reporting, 717 Bhutanese work at the park across eight resident companies, three of them wholly foreign-owned; US firm Scan Cafe alone employs 538 workers, roughly three-quarters of all park jobs, followed by local call-centre operator iSOFT with 45 and Bhutan Telecom's contact centre with 42.

Conclusions

Total park employment has held in the 600-700 range for roughly a decade rather than continuing to grow, and its heavy concentration in one anchor tenant means the park's outcomes are closely tied to that single company's business decisions.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Construction of a two-building IT park with World Bank co-financing is consistent with a medium overall cost relative to the size of Bhutan's economy.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Park opened in 2012 with a second building added by 2019 and has operated continuously for over a decade.
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Information & Communications programme staff, Druk Holding & Investments (DHI) park management, World Bank project team delivering the skills-training component, Resident-company employers (Scan Cafe, iSOFT, Bhutan Telecom and others)

Conditions for success

  • World Bank technical assistance and financing for infrastructure and a skills-training component
  • A government-owned holding company (DHI) to own and operate the park long-term
  • Ability to attract at least one large foreign anchor tenant to seed initial employment

Common failure modes

  • Heavy dependence on a single anchor tenant (Scan Cafe, roughly three-quarters of jobs) creates concentration risk if that company scales back
  • Employment has plateaued around 700 for about a decade rather than continuing to grow, indicating limited follow-on investment attraction

Where it fits

Governance type
government ministry plus state holding company (DHI)
Scale
single-site national flagship park
Income level
lower-middle-income, small landlocked economy

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes Own resources / municipal budget

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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