The Ministry of Environment (MOENV) yesterday unveiled the plaque for its new Department of Environmental Information Technology, with the goal of stepping up artificial intelligence (AI) applications in environmental governance.
The department was redesigned from the Department of Monitoring and Information — which had been operating for 38 years — to focus resources on developing data governance and AI applications, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said at the ceremony.
Also known as the “AI department,” its setup is expected to offer the ministry’s information technology personnel a more fulfilling career path, thereby bolstering talent retention, he said.
Photo: Huang Yi-ching, Taipei Times
The ministry has been using AI extensively to detect and investigate environmental crimes, including number-plate recognition, as well as to summarize environmental impact assessment (EIA) review meetings, Peng said.
With further development in the future, an AI-powered query system would also be employed to help the public understand lengthy EIA reports and allow developers to compare their EIA reports with qualified counterparts prior to submitting their reports to the EIA committee for review, he said.
That would help spot missing information in EIA documents and simplify communication processes, he added.
The ministry has digitally compiled about 15,000 environmental project achievement reports, which would be incorporated into the national environmental database, Department of Environmental Information Technology Director Chang Shun-chin (張順欽) said.
The department is to introduce more AI techniques to enhance the ministry’s public services, including a generative AI system that is expected to provide 24-hour service, he said.
In other news, the Taiwan Innotech Expo commenced yesterday and is to run through tomorrow at the World Trade Center in Taipei.
Launched in 2005, the expo this year has invited 10 global vendors based in the US, Japan, Germany and other countries to showcase their advanced techniques in smart technology and circular economy, said Lee Hung-hsi (李紅曦), director of agricultural science and technology at the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Sustainability Pavilion was co-organized by the agriculture ministry, the MOENV, the National Development Council, and the ministries of national defense, labor and digital affairs, to showcase 97 recently developed techniques, with the goal of promoting their commercialization, she said.
The pavilion features applications of AI in agricultural management and environmental protection..
For example, the Livestock Research Institute developed a manure-cleaning robot tailored to local barn layouts with replaceable brush modules, offering a more cost-effective solution to purchasing imported robots.
Aireco Co developed an AI-powered smart recycling system based on more than 5 million images of local recycled waste, which can process up to 30,000 tonnes of waste annually and could reduce manual labor by 70 percent.
The system can recognize more than 30 recyclable items ranging from plastics, iron and aluminum to paper and paper containers, as well as identify their product brands and whether they have residues at a precision rate of up to 90 percent.
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