The 7th annual meeting of the Taiwan Britain Business Council (TBBC) took place in Taipei on 18 and 19 April. This year's event was very upbeat and a record number of attendees participated.
The Taiwanese representation, led once again by Co-Chairman Leslie Koo, comprised of over 80 representatives from three key sectors which were the focus for this year's event: ICT, Biotechnology and Infrastructure. Financial and professional services were also covered.
The UK side, chaired by Martin Barrow, comprised of around 70 representatives from companies and multipliers including: BT, Logica, AEA Technology, Balfour Beatty, Atking Rail, GSK, Rolls Royce, HSBC, Deloitte & Touche to name but a few.
On 18 April representatives from the ICT and Biotech groups followed an organised programme of visits to ITRI. The Infrastructure Group undertook a visit to a high speed rail site where they were appraised of future developments surrounding the various sites. This area was idenified as a good opportunity where Taiwanese and British companies might collaborate in order to develop the existing land around the five high speed rail sites.
At the Plenary itself many topics were discussed including: 3rd country collaboration, intelligent buildings and various opportunities for collaboration in infrastructure and related convergance in ICT.
The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sub-group yet again lived up to expectation by providing a full and exciting agenda with record breaking attendance focusing on Mobile Broadband, Locations Based Services and Digital Content.
The session included key addresses by Chunghwa Telecom and the Institute for Information Industries (III) on the Taiwanese side and British Telecom, and Xexco for the UK.
Of particular interest were the developments within the European Union for research and development collaboration between European and non-European countries that has paved the way for Taiwanese companies to operate as full partners in European R&D projects.
With the fast pace of developments within the these sectors, there is a recognition that to remain globally competitive companies must collaborate to survive.
The close relationships that have been established between UK and Taiwanese companies over the years, through the continued efforts of the TBBC will ensure the continued success for UK and Taiwanese partnerships well into the future.
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