Thammasat University Team Wins Super AI Engineer Pitching with “Nerth AI”

     “Our future goal is to develop Nerth AI into a no–code/low–code Data & AI Platform that connects to diverse data sources and creates workflows for practical AI utilization within organizations“.

     Driven by the challenge of making AI accessible to everyone, especially SMEs struggling with back-office tasks, a team of students from Thammasat University (Economics and Commerce and Accountancy) and KMUTT (Applied Computer Science) developed ‘Nerth AI’. This platform, which integrates knowledge from diverse fields, recently won first prize in the Startup Pitching competition at the Super AI Engineer: The 5th National AI Exhibition, celebrating Thai talent in AI and marking the 5th and 10th anniversaries of the Super AI Engineer project and the AIAT, respectively. Nerth AI’s success story, born from competition and cross-disciplinary collaboration, positions it as a vital aid for Thai SMEs.

     The inspiration for ‘Nerth AI’ came from observing that many Thai individuals, including professionals and entrepreneurs, found AI inaccessible due to the need for coding and the complexity of existing tools, limiting the benefits of AI to a small group despite its potential to reduce routine tasks and enhance ideas. To address this, our team is developing Nerth AI as a platform that allows users to interact using natural language, automatically assisting with data preparation, creating workflows, and connecting with AI models. This enables all groups in Thailand to easily learn and apply AI in their work without coding, significantly reducing time on repetitive tasks; currently, it is utilized by Thai SMEs to enhance efficiency and increase competitive capabilities, particularly in marketing and backend data management systems.

     Napat, a team member, argues that economics helps in understanding the severity of Thailand’s current economic crisis, evidenced by Thai SMEs’ struggle. Despite accounting for 99.5% of businesses and 70% of employment, Thai SMEs contribute only one-third of the GDP, unlike developed countries like Singapore where SMEs effectively use data and technology. The team is focused on finding ways to enable Thai SMEs to leverage data and technology to unlock their full potential by studying their backend operations and business data through business science to identify problems and implement solutions.

     Alisa discusses the main challenge in developing ‘NerthAI’: making complex AI and Data Workflow technologies easily accessible and simple to use for all types of SMEs (food, retail, beauty, manufacturing, service sectors), despite their varied data management methods and lack of technical background. The solution required designing a flexible, human-centered system that delivers results immediately, focusing on being genuinely useful for small businesses with limited resources.

     Chawapat shares that the competition experience, including mentor advice and hands-on work, was valuable. It helped the team understand real-world societal issues and the pain points of entrepreneurs, particularly the complexity of SME ‘back office’ operations (scattered data, repetitive labor, time loss). This research clarified how AI could solve problems in data management, business analysis, labor, and decision-making. The competition also highlighted the rapid advancement of AI and increased the team’s confidence in its future role in business transformation.

     This award serves as a testament to the ideas and intentions of the team in developing the No-Code AI & Data Platform for the Thai people, and it reflects our goal of empowering SMEs and organizations in the country to truly utilize AI technology. You can try out NerthAI at https://nerth.ai.