Taiwan hosts Czech Technology Days

8 Nov. 2011 | CzechInvest, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic | The topics will be research and development in the area of ICT and nuclear energy.

Research and development of information and communication technologies in connection with biotechnology and the prospects and safety of nuclear energy will be the topics of discussion among representatives of the academic and research spheres, governmental institutions and the private sector in the Taiwanese cities of Tainan and Taipei from 8 to 11 November. The conference will take place within the Taiwan-Czech Technology Days co-organised by CzechInvest, the Investment and Business Development Agency of the Czech Republic.

“The Czech Republic is among the world’s most popular locations in the area of ICT. In addition to acceptable costs, the country also prominently features a rich tradition of university-level technical education. It is obvious that we have something to offer to even the world’s leading ICT firms. In just the first half of this year, every second project mediated by CzechInvest was focused on ICT, out of a total volume of mediated investments in the value of CZK 16.3 billion,” says Martin Kocourek, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic.

"Like scientists involved in biotechnologies and nuclear energy, Czech ICT specialists are sought-after partners in the wider world and we thus believe that this event will also contribute to the promotion of Czech science, a task to which the foreign ministry has long been dedicated," says Karel Schwarzenberg, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.

“The ICT sector is developing dynamically in both the Czech Republic and Taiwan, and therefore it will be beneficial for both sides to establish direct contacts between research institutions and to exchange important information about development trends in the fields of science and technology,” says Miroslav Křížek, General Director of CzechInvest. “Given the changing perception of nuclear energy especially in Europe, it will be interesting to compare the research activities of both countries, which is another topic of the conference,” he adds.

“By hosting the Taiwan-Czech Technology Days, we can participate in academic exchange with the Czech Republic and so establish mutual collaborations in related fields, especially in ICT related biomedical devices” says Hong-Sen Yan, Vice President of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), leading institution in promoting industry and academic cooperation in Taiwan.

„Czech delegation will visit Tainan Scientific Park, Kaohsiung Science Park, Hsinchu Science Park and Industrial Technology Research Institute and also meet representatives from National Science Council to discuss future high-tech collaboration and investment,“ adds Fong-Chin Su, director of NCKU Medical Device Innovation Center.

The objective of the Taiwan-Czech Technology Days event will be to jointly present the research and development policies of both countries, to support the industrial use of research, demonstrate the possibilities of potential cooperation between the industrial and academic spheres and to find research and industrial partners in the area of information technologies in connection with biotechnologies. At the request of the Taiwanese side, another topic of the conference will be nuclear safety with regard to existing and newly developed technologies and education in nuclear engineering and related fields. Top specialists from National Cheng Kung University and National Tsing Hua University will present their activities in the aforementioned fields on behalf of the Taiwanese side. Their Czech counterparts will be experts from the Department of Cybernetics and Physics at the Czech Technical University in Prague and from Brno University of Technology. The Taiwanese firm Himax Display Technology and the Czech company KOUKAAM a.s., which has been operating in Taiwan for several years, will also participate in the event.

The Czech Technology Days project was initiated in 2005 in the form of bilateral international conferences. Since the project’s inception, Czech Technology Days events have been held thirty-two times in twenty two countries. The project has also earned several international honours, such as second place in the international competition “European Prize for Economic Benefit” and represented the Czech Republic in the “European Enterprise Awards 2010” competition organised by the European Commission. Czech Technology Days events provide an overview of the structure of Czech research and development entities as well as the Czech government’s priorities and programmes. Furthermore, they provide information on significant achieved objectives and prospects while contributing to the exchange of important information regarding the main anticipated trends and priorities.

The Taiwan-Czech Technology Days event is being organised by CzechInvest together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and in cooperation with the Taipei Economic and Culture Office in Prague, Czech Economic and Culture Office in Taipei, National Cheng Kung University and the National Science Council in Taiwan.