A science and technology division is set to be launched at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv as part of government efforts to boost industry cooperation with Israel and strengthen Taiwan’s R&D capabilities, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced March 19.
Scheduled to open in April, the MOST-administered unit will work to connect Taiwan companies, startups and research institutions with counterparts in the Middle Eastern country as well as stage seminars to foster links between tech professionals from the two sides. It will also facilitate visits by leading Israeli experts to Taiwan so as to promote research exchanges.
According to MOST Minister Chen Liang-gee, Taiwan can learn much from Israel’s success in commercializing technologies developed by academic institutions. Enhanced collaboration will help foster innovation-based growth and strengthen the country’s global tech competitiveness, he said.
The division will be headed by Wang Ting-an, former director of the same unit at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco from 2012 to 2016. He also serves as deputy CEO of the Asia Silicon Valley Development Agency, which oversees a major government initiative aimed at transforming Taiwan into an R&D hub for the Internet of Things sector as well as a global center of entrepreneurship.
Cooperation on talent cultivation will be another core focus of the new division, the MOST said. This will be accomplished through promoting training exchanges among educational institutions and bolstering links between a Taiwan research and industry alliance comprising 15 universities and similar groups in Israel.
Efforts to enhance talent cultivation cooperation between the two sides have already yielded significant results, the MOST said. Three major Israel companies have participated in the ministry’s Learn, Explore, Aspire, Pioneer project launched last year to offer Taiwan doctorate holders an opportunity to conduct cutting-edge industrial technology R&D in Silicon Valley for one year.
Since 2006, the MOST and the Israel Ministry of Science, Technology and Space have also promoted joint research projects and seminars spanning fields including artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, information security, medical equipment, neuroscience, nanomaterials and quantum physics. (KWS-E)
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