The “Healthy Taiwan Sprout Project” launched last year has approved funding worth NT$2.94 billion (US$93.05 million) for 197 smart healthcare projects, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that he hoped to see healthcare and technology integration become the next “divine mountains” maintaining Taiwan’s international competitiveness.
He made the remark at the opening ceremony of the 19th Nobel Health Care Forum in Taipei.
The forum, which started in 2017, has a clear mission to implement the nation’s healthcare policies and engage in frontline medical services, Lai said, adding that it has become a vital platform promoting Taiwan’s healthcare industry.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Cross-sector collaboration — especially the integration of healthcare and technology — diversified topics reflecting the medical community’s continuous efforts to push for innovative health management, and the implementation of smart healthcare solutions contributed to the forum’s success, he said.
The Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee was established to reduce the number of years Taiwanese would live in poor health as the nation’s average life expectancy grows, Lai said.
The average life expectancy has exceeded 80 years, but the average number of years lived in poor health is about 8.4 years, which means people spend 10 percent of their lives in relatively unhealthy conditions, such as being bedridden, in a wheelchair or depending on others for daily tasks, he added.
The five-year NT$48.9 billion “Healthy Taiwan Sprout Project” was launched last year, and it focuses on better healthcare by cultivating talent, improving healthcare staff’s work environment and conditions, practicing social responsibilities and maintaining healthcare sustainability, he said.
It also includes smart healthcare, Lai said, adding that NT$2.94 billion in funding for 197 smart healthcare projects has been approved since last year, mainly for optimizing clinical workflows and improving service efficiency, he added.
Taiwan ranked first on the Numbeo Health Care Index for eight consecutive years, and has a special place in semiconductor, information and communications technology, and electronic components production, Lai said.
In line with the continuous efforts of Taiwan’s medical community, industrial and technology sectors, the government has proposed a “10 Major AI Infrastructure Projects” initiative to further cement the nation’s leading competitive advantage in the world, he said.
The government has set a goal of training 500,000 AI professionals by 2040, Lai said, adding that the new National Center for High-performance Computing has begun operations while he National AI Data Center is to open soon.
The initiative would develop three critical technologies: silicon photonics, quantum computing and robotics, he said.
The government also hopes to assist 1 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan in integrating AI into their operations, which would comprehensively enhance their competitiveness, Lai said.
“The ‘divine mountains’ are not a single enterprise, but a whole industrial ecological chain,” Lai said, adding that he hoped that through government-private cooperation, the integration of healthcare and technology could become the next “divine mountains” pushing Taiwan to have even better global competitiveness.
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