By the Office of Public Affiars
A conference entitled ‘AI: The Path Forward from Asian and European Perspective’ was organized from 3 to 5 October 2022 at the Asian Institute of Technology.
The event brought together academic institutions, research centers, businesses and corporations from different countries to exchange the latest advances, experiences, and work in data science and AI. Twenty presentations and fifteen poster exhibits were made, highlighting the successful partnership and collaboration among 14 Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DS&AI) project partners.
Recent advances in Data Science and AI have equipped governments, and industries to revolutionize the economy, transform organizations, and improve services, operations, and decision-making. Stating that the roles, impacts, and benefits of Data Science and AI are evident in the current data-driven economy, AIT President Prof. Kazuo Yamamoto stressed the need to develop talent and capabilities for Data Science and AI to reach their full potential throughout the region.
He added, “This is where the DS&AI Erasmus+, Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education Project has played an important role in the last four years, where experts from Europe and Asia have joined force to develop a new Master’s Program in Data Science and AI that can fill the demands for specialists in our region”
This Conference marks the conclusion of the DS&AI project. Institutes have implemented the Master’s Program developed by the project in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Thailand. The enrollment rate and the quality and novelty of the curricula are also satisfactory. Launched in August 2019 at AIT, over 80 students have joined the program, and graduates have successfully gained positions in pivotal companies for the Data Science and AI transformation in Thailand.
Prof. Yamamoto added, “While the goal of the project focused on education, it also succeeded in creating new sustainable collaboration among partners. Therefore, this conference is the witness to the success of the project in education, research, and industrial cooperation between Europe and Asia.”
The event’s main highlight were the thematic sessions on industrial, educational, and research issues. In the industry session, industria experts from Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia discussed the effects and advantages of Data Science and AI on various business domains.
In the education session, speakers discussed the challenges and opportunities of AI in learning and shared good practices for delivering AI courses. In addition, the tutorial sessions provided a chance to learn two recent advanced topics in the field. The session focused on the DS&AI project results in Asia, digital competence framework, graph neural network, automated machine learning, etc.
Furthermore, the research and poster session presented cutting-edge techniques and results, giving the possibility to look into the future of AI where experts discussed the future of AI for Europe, Asia, and the world.
Dr. Chutiporn Anutariya said “This conference was truly a great couple of days, full of knowledge and experience sharing, stimulating active discussion among participants and inspiring young fellows. We, project partners, speakers, industrial experts and participants enjoyed very much the contents and the friendly atmosphere that the conference has brought. It greatly strengthened the cooperation among partners in the consortium, initiated new ideas and future collaborations. We all indeed look forward to the next year events under this active DS&AI consortium.”
Curriculum Development in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DS&AI) is an Erasmus + KA2 Project – Capacity Building in Higher Education. The DS&AI project aims to create a new MSc program in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Asia and generate highly-skilled Data Scientists and other relevant experts that will reinforce the regional ICT industry in dire need.
