The World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) is the largest and the most reputable international IT event in the world. This year, WCIT 2017 is officially launched on September 11th at the Taipei International Convention Center (TICC).  It will be a 3 day event.  President Tsai Ing-Wen, Minister without Portfolio Wu Tsung-Tsong and Audrey Tang, National Development Council Deputy Minister Tseng Shu-cheng, Economic Minister Shen Jong-Chin, Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-Je, and WITSA Chairman Chiu Yueh-Hsiang, along with over 3000 guests from 80 nations jointly participated in the opening ceremony to discuss about the next generation digital trend.

The return of WCIT to Taiwan, after 17 years since the island nation first hosted the event, marks the importance of digital economy in Asia. WCIT 2017 offers the Tech Expo, WCIT2017 Book, and vast international participation.  The agenda of the event is in accordance with the government’s 5+2 industrial innovation policy.  The event demonstrates the island nation’s latest R&D achievements to the world.  More than 250 startup teams are invited in order to better connect the younger generation with the world.

The opening ceremony performance is conducted by Venice Film Festival awarded new media artist Huang Hsin-Chien. The show combines IoT wearable devices, dancers, and new technologies. It is a perfect showcase of Taiwan’s ability of creating the fusion between technology, culture, and art.

President Tsai stated that hosting the WCIT once again is a great encouragement to Taiwan’s digital transformation. To realize the “digital economy,” the government worked hard on regulatory reform and the Asia Silicon Valley innovation plan, and developed the DIGI project to strengthen digital infrastructure. There is also special budget planned for industrial advancement and balancing urban and rural development. Taiwan can thus be rid of the industrial age and become a significant role in the digital economy.

President Tsai stated that Taiwan has successfully transformed itself from an OEM centric economy to IT application super power and becomes the “Heart of Asia, Smart Island”. Taiwan is to prove to the world that (1) Taiwan is transforming form OEM to an innovative economy and welcomes IOT, Industry 4.0, and AI talents to join us in Taiwan and work with the local supply chains; (2) The Taiwanese government is willing to provide all necessary resources to support the young generation in fulfilling their digital dream. President Tsai stressed that “constructing an applicable regulatory system is her core mission in leading this government”.

President Tsai stressed that Taiwan has a strong determination in the digital era. In preparing for the WCIT 2017, Executive Yuan and related agencies put in their full efforts. They will also be participating in the upcoming meetings and panels, learning from their experiences and using those as reference for government policies. The WCIT will be hosted in Asia for the next 5 years, and Taiwan is among the first. We expect to use this summit as a platform to connect closer with Asian countries on smart application and digital economy development.

Minister without Portfolio Wu Tsung-Tsong said that the WCIT 2017 invites leaders from all over the world for a roundtable discussion, hoping to form a Digital Nation Alliance for cross-country long-term cooperation. This would enable further transformation and cooperation with other participating nations post this summit. The summit also invited young students to join this international opportunity, indicating that these young generation is the future of Taiwan and will devote themselves into new technologies to fulfill their digital dream.

Economic Minister Shen Jong-Chin stated that when Taiwan first hosted the WCIT in 2000, Taiwan’s strong manufacturing abilities and cooperation with international ICT companies proved to the world Taiwan’s strength in hardware manufacturing. Today, everyone possesses smart phone, tablet, notebook, and computers. Taiwan plays an important role in the penetration of smart living worldwide. Today, 17 years later, Taiwan is hosting the WCIT once again. Only this time, Taiwan not only does OEM, but also demonstrates the ability for innovation and system integration.

Shen said that Taiwan may not have abundant resources, but we do have talented ICT professionals. Taiwanese is hard working and is willing to work and learn from participating countries to provide these ICT products and services to the world. With this summit, we would like to demonstrate Taiwan’s green and smart cities. Shen stressed that from the main theme of this summit- innovation and smart application, we would discuss how these applications fit in with our daily lives. These applications are already performed by outstanding industry, such as Advantech, transforming from hardware production to smart medicine and transportation; TSMC, from components manufacturing to smart manufacture and smart energy reduction solution; and Gogoro, who applied smart technology into its business model and expanded markets to Germany and France.

WITSA Chairman Chiu Yueh-Hsiang stated that technology has become a vital part of every aspect of our lives including communication, education, manufacturing, medical cares, transportation, urban development, and resource management. The purpose of WCIT is to facilitate communication between different countries and enhance the application of IOC.  By connecting the dots together, we will be able to achieve a prosperous future.

Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-Je pointed out that by year 2050, 70% of the global population will be living in urban area, and ICT is the key in urban management. There are 5 important aspects in Taipei’s ICT innovation, including transportation, medical affairs, public housing, metro card and education. On transportation, key point is parking lot management and the promotion of YouBike – local public bike share program; on public housing, incorporating smart electricity and water meter, solar panel and smart security system is an important topic in smart cities; and providing students with tablets and ensuring school networks is the best way in providing education equality and managing poverty gap.

WCIT 2017 is closely advice by Board of Science and Technology of Executive Yuan, and jointly organized by Ministry of Economic Affairs and WITSA. Furthermore, Taipei City Government is the host of the event and the support from over 60 other companies and foundations including Information Service Industry Associations, Taipei Computer Associations, Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association, Cloud Computing & IoT Association in Taiwan, Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, Foxconn, and Chunghwa Telecom.