Premier Lai Ching-te today attended the gala dinner and awards ceremony hosted by the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT), where he represented his administration to extend a warm welcome to Taiwan to the conference's 3,700 information technology leaders from 80 nations.
This year's WCIT is the second time in 17 years that Taiwan has hosted the event, and the premier affirmed not only the accomplishments and successful conclusion of the congress, but also its many contributions to the IT industry in Taiwan and throughout the world.
Taiwan is a small country, and because it is small the government recognized early on the importance of IT for the people, society and the national economy. Taiwan's democratic system of government, free society and the innovative spirit of the people themselves have produced an abundance of successes over many years of cooperation between the government and the private sector. The number of world-class tech companies headquartered in Taiwan, as well as enhanced government capabilities, corporate governance, factory management and widespread use in daily life, all attest to these accomplishments, said the premier.
The premier emphasized that President Tsai Ing-wen has already indicated a direction for national development, namely, to transform industry in Taiwan from a contract manufacturer into an innovative smart-tech leader. Under the leadership of President Tsai, the Executive Yuan has also proposed several concrete measures, such as loosening regulation, cultivating new talent, and actively promoting the Asia Silicon Valley plan—including the internet of things, big data analytics, cloud computing and artificial intelligence—as part of the "five plus two" innovative industries program. The administration further introduced the Digital Nation and Innovative Economic Development Plan, guided by Minister without Portfolio Wu Tsung-Tsong. The premier anticipated that all of these efforts will help realize the president's ideas and empower IT companies to reap the many rewards.