From Stars to Baht: Broadening the economic impact of astronomical data handling techniques in Thailand - Phase II

The most effective way of reducing levels of poverty in developing countries is through their continued economic development, which leads to increased levels of income per person. Research has shown that one of the main ways of achieving this is through maintained increases in levels of productivity (defined as output per hour worked) within businesses and organisations. For an upper-middle income economy such as Thailand's, productivity growth will increasingly rely on innovation, which today requires access to high-tech skills. With more and more Thai industries collecting data on their customers, production lines, distribution networks, stock prices, etc., one of the most crucially needed high-tech skill is the ability to handle large amounts of digital data. Our ongoing project aims to provide such skills for businesses and organisations across Thailand, especially those regions outside Bangkok which have traditionally suffered from weaker economic growth. The first step in this project - for which we received Newton funding - was to use large astronomical datasets to expose Thai data scientists based at Mae Fah Luang University (MFU) to "Big Data". This was followed by a GCRF Foundation Award to facilitate working with five pre-selected regional businesses and organisations, during which we worked with undergraduate students to research how to adapt our technologies and skills to meet the data handling and analysis needs of these external partners. Following the success of our Foundation Award project, we now request GCRF funds to support the expansion of the project to include a broader range of larger external partners with a more national presence. This will provide MFU with the exposure needed to become a self-sustaning hub for data science research and training within Northern Thailand.

Please see our Pathways to Impact statement.