US engineer Daniel Robert Vickery, head of energy systems engineering at Gogoro, was on Sunday awarded the Plum Blossom Card in recognition of his contributions to Taiwan’s electric scooter industry.
The card is given to foreign nationals who have made special contributions to Taiwan, have high-level professional or technical skills needed by Taiwan, or who have invested more than NT$15 million (US$491,787) in the country.
Card holders are granted permanent residency and also have the benefit of a simplified process should they wish to apply for Taiwanese citizenship, according to the National Immigration Agency.
Vickery has been working at Taiwan-based electric scooter company Gogoro since 2015.
At the award ceremony in Taipei he said that being granted the card affirmed his expertise.
He would continue to recruit a new generation of energy engineers in Taiwan, as Gogoro aims to build safer, more efficient and more eco-friendly battery systems, Vickery added.
Born in 1988, Vickery grew up with a keen interest in engineering and obtained a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before working at software giant Oracle.
He moved to Taiwan in 2014 and joined Gogoro a year later.
He leads a team of 60 engineers who develop battery packs for Gogoro scooters, and the battery swap stations where users exchange discharged batteries for fresh ones.
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