BANGKOK — Dec. 3, 2020 — NVIDIA today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a consortium of universities in Thailand to drive research and accelerate scientific breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and high performance computing (HPC).
The national collaboration is driven by Thailand’s aim to create a world class infrastructure to support AI and HPC research to address national challenges such as healthcare.
With the MoU, Thailand is Southeast Asia’s first country to be part of NVIDIA’s AI Nations initiative, a worldwide program that helps government leaders and stakeholders develop plans to implement AI to advance national priorities and drive economic growth.
Under the MoU, NVIDIA will collaborate with the Thailand A.I. consortium of universities – Chulalongkorn University, CMKL University, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Khon Kaen University, Mahidol University, and Prince of Songkla University.
From Cloud to Edge
NVIDIA will assist the research institutions and universities with continuous development of the National AI Strategy and AI Compute approach from cloud to edge. It will also provide support through the NVIDIA Inception Program, a virtual incubator for startups; NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Institute, which provides hands-on and remote AI training; NVIDIA’s AI Tech Center, for joint applied AI research; and NVIDIA partner ecosystem, to accelerate applications that can be adopted by the Thai government.
Through the collaboration, the consortium will be engaged in NVIDIA AI Nations partnerships, support the adoption of NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platforms, and explore the potential of connecting NVIDIA DGX AI supercomputers across Thailand to function as a more powerful virtualised AI supercomputer capable of solving even more complex problems.
Other potential collaborations include advancing Thailand’s Smart Cities initiative by leveraging NVIDIA’s DGX, EGX, Metropolis and Clara Guardian platforms; and utilizing partner ecosystems to improve the quality of urban life, protect the health of citizens and support the re-activation of business in a post-COVID age.
The partners may also introduce a national AI skills development initiative delivered through the universities to cultivate the next generation of AI leaders in Thailand
Golden Opportunity for Thai Researchers and Startups
“Today is a special day for me to be able to witness and help drive Thailand’s digital and AI innovations onto the world stage via the network of NVIDIA, the manufacturer of the GPU machine that is the heart of the world’s AI technology. Several Thailand’s leading research universities join forces to work together in driving innovation at a national level. This collaboration will help our country to become more powerful and develop at a much faster pace than ever before,” said Associate Professor Dr Siree Chaiseri, director, Program Management Unit for Competitiveness (PMU C) MHESI. “This cooperation between the leading Thai and international researchers, and the support and participation of many leading private companies and institutions, is no doubt a golden opportunity for the Thai researchers and startups to move onto the world stage and create commercial values to the Thai digital economy.”
Keith Strier, World Wide Vice President for NVIDIA AI Nations Initiatives, said: “AI can greatly transform many industries. It can make our transportation systems safer and more efficient, aid in breakthrough scientific discoveries, and help medical professionals provide better care for more people. Being the first in Southeast Asia to be part of NVIDIA’s AI Nations initiative shows the country’s vision and desire to excel in the AI era. As the leader in AI, NVIDIA will do our part to help the nation achieve its goal of having a world-class infrastructure for researchers and nurture a new generation of IT talents.”
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the AI computing company. Its invention of the GPU in 1999 sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics and revolutionised parallel computing. More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI – the next era of computing – with the GPU acting as the brain of computers, robots and self-driving cars that can perceive and understand the world. More information at http://nvidianews.nvidia.com/.