The Cloud Computing and IoT Association in Taiwan (CIAT) held its 8th First General Meeting (29). Vice President Hsiao, Mei-Qin personally delivered a speech of congratulations and encouragement, and presented the Outstanding Application Award of the “Cloud Internet of Things Innovation Award” and the System Innovation Award that cultivates countless innovations, which are the Oscars of digital transformation. Mr. Huang, Yen-Nun, Minister of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, was invited to give a speech on “Cloud Connectivity and AI Empowerment to Create Infinite Possibilities of Taiwan's Smart Island” and present the awards, while Mr. Yang Chih-Ching, Director General of the Industrial Development Administration, MOEA, and Mr. Lee Kuan-Chih, Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises and Startup Administration, MOEA, also came to present the awards. CIAT elected new directors and chairperson, and Tsung-Tsong Wu, Chairman and Managing Director of ITRI, was finally elected as the eighth Chairman of CIAT.

    Vice President Hsiao, Mei-Qin said in her speech that it was a great honor to witness the Taiwan Cloud Association’s creation of Taiwan’s AI smart island and the further evolution of the industry. Since the establishment of the Taiwan Cloud Association, it has cooperated closely with the government and gathered the common wisdom and strength of the private sector, academia, and industry to continuously promote Taiwan's ICT industry to seek cloud software and hardware solutions and help Taiwan become a leader in the global cloud data center supply chain—key partners. At a time when the world is experiencing an explosion of artificial intelligence (AI), the world is paying attention to Taiwan. We have many new opportunities in applications, and we need the Taiwan Cloud Association to demonstrate the integration of AI software and hardware systems and application services, link The industry to the world, and create new peaks in the industry. The AI era is an explosion of technology and a new industrial revolution. The changes that have only been completed in the past few decades will now see new developments in just a few years or even a few months. However, related technological development not only brings progress but also brings new risks. If we want to think about how to balance information security, privacy, convenience needs, and other win-win situations, we need private platforms like the Taiwan Cloud Association to bring together all parties. The most powerful software and hardware companies and operational service companies have made Taiwan an innovation base for information security and cloud computing. In addition, how to narrow the "AI gap" between experts and civilians will also be a topic that requires joint efforts with all advanced experts in the future. How to make AI more popular in various industries and enter a new model of AI application is also a topic that Taiwan Cloud Association Establish the most important task. Make Taiwan irreplaceable in the world and create Taiwan's strategic value.

    Mr. Huang, Yen-Nun, Minister of Digital Affairs, pointed out in the keynote speech that in the new wave of artificial intelligence generation in the world, driven by technologies such as cloud computing and storage capacity improvement, large amounts of data, algorithm breakthroughs, and hardware device performance improvements, the depth of The rapid development of learning and generative AI; there are about 65,000 digital economy-related companies in Taiwan, and the output value of digital economy-related industries in 2023 will be about NT$900 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 11%. In the future, it will continue to combine cross-departmental strength to solidify existing Industrial advantages and connect the energy of industries, talents, and technologies across Taiwan to create a rich and innovative AI smart ecosystem.

    A total of 11 organizations were awarded the “Cloud Internet of Things Innovation Award” this year, and three of them including Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taoyuan Fire Department, and Agricultural Technology Research Institute were awarded the “Outstanding Application Award”. Taichung Veterans General Hospital cooperated with Quanta Computer on the “Telemedicine Cloud Solution”, which utilizes cloud information service and Internet of Things technology to provide timely, local, and personal medical services. The Taoyuan Fire Department won the award for “Life Rescue Cannot Wait – Smart Rescue Dispatch”, which manages all disaster relief ambulances in the department in a technological and fleet-oriented manner, and promotes the “Ambulance All the Way Through” program to shorten the time for patients to be transported to the hospital. The Agricultural Technology Research Institute proposed the “Pig Production Management and Disease Diagnosis IoT” to promote Taiwan's innovative agricultural technology industry and lead the agricultural industry in continuous innovation and development.

As the “Cloud Leopard Incubation Award” enters its 12th year, it has nurtured 185 teams of start-ups using the “Big Leads Small” co-innovation and incubation mechanism, and the cumulative fundraising amount has exceeded NT$4.1 billion. The “System Innovation Award” is designed to encourage large corporations and startups for joint innovation. Based on the resources and strategies of large corporations, it realizes the market value of cooperating with startups and links more external partners to jointly practice the innovation system, creating a co-prosperous and innovative ecosystem with market value! The winner of the System Innovation Award is BILINK CORP. and its corporate mentor, ITRI. BILINK's process automation software, which combines browsers and RPA technologies, mimics human beings to perform repetitive tasks on computers automatically. In recent years, it has also established the “Tech-Startup Japan Award” especially for overseas market deployment, and selected the startups with the potential of expanding the Japanese market from the selected teams of the current year's Cloud Leopard Inclusion to travel to Japan and explore the new business opportunities between Taiwan and Japan. Through the enterprise's field, international channels and various resources at home and abroad, the Cloud Leopard Incubation leads the way for the startups in the market, counseling the startups to quickly obtain field verification, business orders and investment, so as to step out of Taiwan to seize the international business opportunities!