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.
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