Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hsu Yu-chin (許有進) on Saturday inaugurated the Indo-Taiwan Joint Research Center on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning at the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar) in Rupnagar.
Hsu’s seven-day visit to India ends tomorrow.
On Thursday last week, he attended a conference on technological collaboration between Taiwan and India in New Delhi with Representative to India James Tien (田中光) and Indian Department of Science and Technology Secretary Ashutosh Sharma.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India via CNA
Since Taiwan and India in 2007 signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote technological cooperation, the two sides have co-funded 86 research programs and published more than 180 research papers with the Science Citation Index, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.
Taiwan and India mainly collaborate in areas related to AI, renewable energy, the Internet of Things, big data, information security, microelectronics, nanoelectronics, biotechnology, healthcare, drug development, agriculture and food, the ministry said.
After Thursday’s conference, the two sides also agreed to promote 10 new joint projects, the ministry said, without elaborating.
The AI center at IIT Ropar was established by IIT Ropar, India’s Chitkara University and Taiwan’s National Chung Cheng University (NCCU).
The ministry said it subsidized NCCU to form an academic alliance with the two Indian institutions.
India has attracted many Taiwanese investors with its advanced information and communications technology and software industries, in line with the government’s New Southbound Policy, NCCU Research and Development dean Jack Huang (黃士銘) said at the center’s inauguration.
The number of Indian students at NCCU has grown from 21 in the 2017 academic year to an estimated 75 in this year’s fall semester, he said, adding that India’s population of more than 1.3 billion people is a potential talent pool for Taiwan.
Huang said he hopes the AI research center’s setup would convince more excellent Indian students to study in Taiwan.
With Hsu as a witness, the ministry and the Indian Council of Social Science Research on Friday signed their first MOU promoting bilateral collaboration in humanities and social sciences, it said.
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