The east German state of Saxony is to set up a liaison office in Taipei to promote research collaborations, Saxony State Minister of Science Sebastian Gemkow said yesterday.
Gemkow led a delegation to Taiwan from Tuesday to yesterday with the aim of strengthening cooperation in research and education, and deepening scientific exchanges.
The state is to set up an office in Taipei “as soon as possible” to advise Taiwanese students who are considering studying in Germany and offer assistance to German students studying in Taiwan, he told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
The office would be the first of its kind and a beginning for further cooperation in wider fields in the future, he said.
Saxony has a strong semiconductor cluster where one-third of the chips in Europe are produced by 70,000 employees of 2,500 companies, while local universities and research institutions boast advanced work in semiconductors, he said.
The delegation sought opportunities for global collaboration through discussions with government agencies, businesses and universities in Taiwan, he said.
Promoting global exchanges in higher education allows students to be more competitive in today’s world, Dresden University of Technology president Ursula Staudinger said.
The university has been working with National Tsing Hua University since 2008, and is to start new cooperative projects with National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology as a result of the fruitful trip this time, she said.
Asked about speculation that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co might choose Dresden, the capital of Saxony, as the base for its investments in Germany, Gemkow said: “We are recommending everybody who’s interested to invest.”
“We are prepared” in infrastructure, talent, funding programs and energy supplies, he said.
The more than 30 research institutions in and around Dresden can provide a “very attractive base” for research and development, as well as the next-generation development in science, Staudinger said.
On Tuesday, the delegation met with National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) and visited the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs), where Gemkow and NARLabs president Lin Faa-jeng (林法正) signed an agreement to promote scientific research cooperation.
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