The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of the American Innovation Center (AIC) and its reopening as it seeks more collaboration with Taiwanese partners in innovation in the post-COVID-19 era.
Located at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, the AIC moved from a first-floor space to a second-floor office next to the Songyan Creative Hub.
Speaking through a prerecorded video at the center’s reopening ceremony, Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said this year has been difficult for people and she expected the newly reopened center to create more possibilities by integrating the innovative energy of Taiwan and the US.
Photo: CNA
The first of its kind in Asia, the AIC was established in 2014 to promote the shared US-Taiwan values of innovation, entrepreneurship, digitalization, and culture and design by offering related programs to public audiences, AIT Deputy Director Raymond Greene said.
Over the past six years, more than 133,000 people attended more than 620 courses related to innovation and entrepreneurship, digitalization, culture and design, he said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world, people are exploring innovative models for the post-pandemic era, Greene added.
A forum marking the AIC’s anniversary in the afternoon focused on cross-disciplinary innovation, especially on artificial intelligence, design, virtual reality and augmented reality development, and human-computer interaction, which was cohosted by National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, he said.
Thanking the AIC’s old partners, such as Microsoft Taiwan and IBM, Greene welcomed new partners including Kaohsiung-based makerspace provider M.Zone, the Service Science Society, the Pacific Service Design Association and the UX/UI Design Association.
The Songshan cultural park is central to the Taipei City Government’s “wall-less museum” concept that seeks to connect old and new spaces, Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) said.
On one side of the park lies the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, while on the other side is the Taipei Railway Workshop, which is to become a national railway museum under a Ministry of Culture project, he said.
With construction of the Taipei Dome expected to be completed in 2022, the neighborhood would become a new hub for cultural and sports events, and galvanize local tourism, he said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS