A Taiwanese delegation to Slovakia signed seven memorandums of understanding (MOU) with public and private entities, including a space technology pact that would bring to Taiwan a project related to a blockchain application used by the European Space Agency, officials said on Friday.
The 66-person delegation led by National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) and Minister of Science and Technology Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) yesterday concluded their three-day visit to Slovakia.
The two sides on Thursday held a bilateral cooperation conference to exchange views on technology, higher education and innovative research, the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a statement yesterday.
Photo: CNA
The Taiwanese delegation was received by Slovak Academy of Sciences vice president for international relations Zuzana Panczova and other representatives from the Slovak Ministry of Education and Slovak Research and Development Agency, it said.
Since the ministry and the academy in 1996 signed a science and technology cooperation agreement, they have funded more than 20 three-year joint research projects, the ministry said.
Wu on Friday witnessed the signing of an MOU by the Taiwan Space Industry Development Association, the Slovak space company 3IPK and its partner company Decent, laying the foundation for a trilateral cooperation framework, it said.
The association was represented by chairman Wu Jong-shinn (吳宗信), who is also the director-general of the National Space Organization, it said.
The two Slovak companies in February had visited the space organization’s headquarters at the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) along with Slovak Economic and Cultural Office Taipei Representative Martin Podstavek.
With the office’s support, 3IPK and Decent would provide a proof of concept project in Taiwan based on a blockchain application used by the European Space Agency, the ministry said.
Decent is a start-up supplying blockchain software as a service, while 3IPK is a space blockchain company that became a member of the Slovak Security and Defense Industry Association in 2019, it added.
Hsinchu Science Park Bureau Director-General Wayne Wang (王永壯) on Friday signed an MOU with the Research Center of the University of Zilina, represented by its director Filip Pastorek, it said.
The research center, established in 2013, focuses on monitoring and evaluating transportation infrastructure, advanced materials, smart architecture and renewable energy, the ministry said.
The two sides’ cooperation creates a win-win situation, as the center specializes in technical research, while the science park is strong in technical applications, the ministry said, adding that their initial cooperation would focus on experience sharing and personnel exchanges.
A Slovak delegation planned to visit Taiwan in May, but the trip has been postponed several times.
Following its visit to Slovakia, the Taiwanese delegation yesterday turned to the Czech Republic, where it plans to stay until Tuesday, next visiting Lithuania from Tuesday to Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the