DevDays Asia 2017, the largest software developer event in Asia, is being held May 23-25 at the Hua Nan Commercial Bank Convention Center in Taipei City, highlighting the latest advances in artificial intelligence, data analysis and office application development.
 
Co-organized by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Partner Office Forum and U.S.-based Microsoft Corp., the three-day event is held in line with government efforts to promote the Internet of Things-focused Asian Silicon Valley initiative. The program aims to transform Taiwan into a platform for interdisciplinary innovation as well as software and hardware integration.
 
DevDays offers participants access to various developer tools, face-to-face interactions with 16 technical experts from Microsoft’s headquarters and hands-on workshops, according to the organizers. The event will likely be attended by more than 600 business executives, data scientists and software and hardware developers, they added.
 
“Microsoft is committed to sharing its latest technologies and first hand information with Taiwan partners, as well as cooperating with them to cultivate talent in the fields of AI and data science,” Microsoft Taiwan General Manager Steven Shaw said May 23 at a news conference for the event. “We hope to provide local developers with brand-new tools and service applications and help set Taiwan on the world stage.”
 
Taiwan is Microsoft’s Asia hub, as well as home to the IoT Innovation Center. Established in October 2016 via collaboration between the tech firm and MOEA, the center aims to work with key partners locally and around the world to accelerate the process of developing IoT solutions for various industries.
 
MOEA Deputy Minister Shen Jong-chin, speaking at the same news conference, said Microsoft has long fostered close collaboration with Taiwan industries and recently implemented several cooperation programs in line with the government’s five-plus-two innovative industries initiative.
 
The initiative is at the vanguard of government efforts to revitalize Taiwan’s economy. It targets the five emerging and high-growth sectors of biotech and pharmaceuticals, green energy, national defense, smart machinery and Internet of Things, while also focusing on the promotion of two core concepts: circular economy and a new paradigm for agricultural development.
 
Shen said he hopes Microsoft can use Taiwan as its innovation center in the Asia-Pacific region and continue to work with local industries in developing AI and information security-related technologies. He added that he expects the U.S. technology giant to expand cooperation with local partners in areas beyond IoT and work to jointly develop international markets.
 
Through the joint efforts of Microsoft and MOEA, DevDays Asia was launched in Taipei for the first time last year, focusing on two themes: Productivity and Cloud & Data Platform. The event was designed to equip Taiwan software developers with new concepts and technologies to help them solve problems related to IoT implementation, and to assist Taiwan enterprises in securing more business opportunities. (KH-E)