President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday touted Taiwanese talent, technology and supporting policies to keep the nation competitive in the coming artificial intelligence and Internet of things (IoT) era.
Speaking at the opening of the 2018 Smart City Summit and Expo in Taipei, Tsai cited the proliferation of Wi-Fi services, including on all Taiwan High Speed Rail cabins, as an example of the small changes that demonstrate Taiwan’s efforts in pushing “smart” cities.
“Taiwan plays an indispensable role in the global supply chain of the information and communication technology [ICT] industry,” she said. “In addition to having a solid technical foundation, domestic companies have proactively invested in developing AIoT [artificial intelligence of things], while the government pushes the Asia Silicon Valley Development Agency [ASVDA] project and other programs to create test fields.”
In keeping up with the development of smart cities, Taiwan last year passed the Financial Technology Innovation and Experiment Act (金融科技發展與創新實驗條例) and financial technology firms can start applying to use the regulatory sandbox in May, she said, adding that regulations for experimenting with uncrewed vehicles are being drafted.
“Taiwan has been a leader in the ICT era, and we will definitely keep up with the AIoT era,” Tsai said.
More than 120 city government heads leading about 300 delegations from 33 nations and territories are expected to take part in the exhibition, and exchange ideas about smart city development, the Taipei Department of Information Technology said.
The exhibition is forecast to attract more than 30,000 experts in related fields over the four-day period, the department said.
The Taipei City Government has set up 42 booths this year, based on the theme “Smart Taipei, International Connecting,” to exhibit Taipei’s smart city efforts in seven aspects — transportation, public housing, healthcare, education, innovation, ecological community and security, Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) said.
Besides Taipei, eight local governments have also set up their own booths at the expo, while the ASVDA project has booths to showcase seven other cities and counties, Lin said.
With the support of major domestic technology firms, Taipei has teamed up with the five other special municipalities and several major cities around the world to form the Global Organization of Smart Cities, Department of Information Technology Director Lee Wei-bin (李維斌) said.
The exposition, organized by the Taipei City Government, the Taipei Computer Association and Taiwan Smart City Solutions Alliance, is being held at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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