MRA Knowledge Sharing Event on the ESOMAR APAC 2026, Beyond Balance

In May 27-29, Esomar Asia Pacific 2026 was held for the insight community at Hilton Tokyo Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. This year’s theme “Beyond Balance” reflects the new reality for insights. Across three energizing days, participants had experience practical sessions, standout case studies with over 30 presentations and discussions. Other aims were to connect, exchange ideas, and build relationships across Asia-Pacific and beyond. MRA Chairman U Aung Min and Secretary Mi May Phyu Phyu Sin attended the conference and MRA Knowledge sharing Event was held on 19 June. There were 70 attendees online at the event that shared the insights and trends gained from the ESOMAR conference.

Sharing Knowledge gained from ESOMAR APAC

There were four presentations;

1. Insights of ESOMAR APAC 2026 and Association Leaders Meeting
   2. Human+AI: Reinventing Research
   3. The Next Frontier: Tech, Leadership and Impacts
   4. Key Observations

1. Human+AI

a) Human center creativity and AI Scaling- AI alignment ensures highly autonomous systems operate safely, predictably, and consistently with human ethics and well-being.
b) What AI Still Doesn’t Understand About People- Language carries cultural signals that mainstream AI often flattens. Through a trending-words experiment, we learned what machines miss and how human interpretation restores nuance in cultural intelligence.
c) Rediscovering Mobility: It explained the AI + Human Symphony. The AI pattern-finding paired with human interpretation uncovered 31 growth opportunities in a fraction of the usual time. A strong model for balancing speed with contextual depth.

2. Research Insights

a) The 10 Steps to Improve Your Data Quality- GDQ initiative and features
b) Reinventing Research Insight- With panel retention slipping and AI adoption rising, Japan’s research industry is redefining quality and collaboration standards with cross-industry initiatives
c) Replicating the Research Process with AI- Power Bot (Microsoft), Chat GPT 5.3, VS (Tiger Beer) tested in Singapore
d) Consumers become Co-creators -Consumers express their needs in AI Chatbot, Select Visuals, Idea Generation/ Expand thinking and translate insights
e) Observe AI Software -Intelligence Monitoring Tracking-US, Insight True-AI Powered Solutions etc

3. Key message to Myanmar research industry

a) Global technology and our locality: A global tech agenda built on AI and digital panels versus a local market still running on face-to-face and phone interviews. Our stance must adopt what genuinely helps us and adapt the rest — don’t import solutions wholesale. Tee up what’s next: first the data-quality threats, then our practical action plan.
b) Protection of eco-system and data quality: Data quality threats are real in both worlds, but they look completely different here. In advanced markets, AI bot attacks, synthetic fraud that security tools can’t catch, and real people abandoning cold online panels. In Myanmar, key issues are interviewers and field fraud, social desirability bias, and field fatigue from long questionnaires. It is recommended to move from data collection to data governance — deploy technology to verify and protect quality at the source.
c) Preparation: It gives the community a concrete readiness plan built on four moves. 1) Adopt & Evaluate: modernize methodology and test AI tools for local use cases, with data privacy and smart quality tracking; 2) Enhance: strengthen behavioral insights — track actions, not just stated opinions; 3) Build: grow team capability by improving AI literacy and training new skills; 4) Call to action: prepare now so we lead the change rather than lag behind it.