ASEAN Hydroinformatics Data Centre (AHC)
04/08/2020
ASEAN Hydroinformatics Data Centre or AHC was established by Hydro – Informatics Institute (HII) under the endorsement of the 72th ASEAN Committee on Science, Technology, and Innovation (ASEAN COSTI) on 24 May 2017 as a centre under the supervision of the Sub-Committee on Microelectronics and Information Technology (SCMIT).
AHC is initiated based on experiences of Thailand’s disaster in 2011 which left severe impairments to the country’s economy and society. This unforgettable disaster evidenced that defragmented hydroinformatics data is a turning key to solve the crisis. As a result, Thailand established “National Hydroinformatics Data Centre – NHC” to integrate water and weather information from 45 government agencies over the country. The data system and architecture were customized with underlying ICT infrastructures. Thus, the data is well gathered and easy to access, transmit, and transfer to inform policy makers and end users accurately in a timely manner. The centralized database allows both policy makers and end users to promptly respond to normal and crisis water situations and consequently reduces related disaster risk.
AHC focuses in 3 frameworks: knowledge sharing, technology matching, and capacity building. AHC aims to integrate information related to ASEAN’s water, weather, and disaster and exchange the good practices of science, technology, and innovation implementation for water management from ASEAN countries. This ambition will not only lift up the well being and ensure water security, but also lead to the sustainability of the region in accordance to the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ASEAN Vision 2025.
AHC currently has members from 9 countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
HII has organized the following activity in relation with the ASEAN:
1. “SMART Informatics for Sustainability” Workshop during 21 – 23 March 2018 as a part of “ASEAN NEXT 2018: Rising STI Networking for Innovative ASEAN” organized by Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation. The SMART Informatics workshop aimed to exchange information of climate change situation and water-related disaster management at regional and global scale by experts from key organizations such as World Meteorology Organization (WMO), APEC Climate Center (APCC) and Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC).
The participants had also exchanged their technology and innovation related to water, weather, and disaster management which currently implemented in each country. A field trip to good practice community in the north of Thailand, “Ban Huay Pla Lod, Tak province”, has also enlightened the participants on the implementation of science, technology, and innovation for sustainable water management at community level.
This workshop provide AHC members a potential collaboration for sharing and developing of technology, and creating at least one good practices community in every ASEAN country.
2. The seminar on “Transformation of STI and Indigenous Knowledge to SDGs: 2019 Super Smart Community” on 19 March 2019 as one of an activity under “ASEAN NEXT 2019: STI Leading towards Community Happiness” supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), Thailand. The seminar aimed to disseminate the implementation of science, technology, innovation, and indigenous knowledge as tools to achieve the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focused on SDG13 “Climate Action”, SDG2 “Zero Hunger” and SDG11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities”.
93 participants from ASEAN and Japan including government, private, academic, and international organization had participated in the seminar.
To accelerate the movement towards SDGs, the organizer announced “New Initiative Project” to widen the implementation of STI for SDGs and selected top 2 projects to present in the seminar. Winner project whose receiving the biggest vote from audiences are the “Water Energy Innovations and Cleaner Production of Tea for Sustainable Community Development on Highland Area” from North Chiang Mai University with collaboration from The University of Tokyo and Department of Technology and Innovation, Lao PDR. And the champion received 500,000 Baht (around $15,000) supporting fund from MHESI to implement the project.
