This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 13, 2017

TAIPEI: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has expressed hope that her government would develop an even closer cooperative relationship with other Asian countries in the area of smart applications and digital economy.

Taiwan is host to the 21st World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2017 which kicked off on Monday, and Tsai said that by playing host this year after a 17-year hiatus, Taiwan is sending two messages to the world.

“First, Taiwan is now moving from contract hardware manufacturing into innovative smart applications, [and we welcome] outstanding personnel and enterprises involved in the Internet of things (IoT), Industry 4.0 or Artificial Intelligence to connect with our domestic supply chains, and develop innovative digital products and application services.

“Secondly, the Taiwan government will provide sufficient resources so that the younger generation can fulfill their digital dreams.

“A key task for my administration is to create an industrial innovation-friendly institutional environment,” she said in her keynote address at the event.

In Taiwan’s transformation journey to become a digital nation, Tsai said the government has been liberalising laws and regulations, and promoting industrial innovation programmes such as its Asia Silicon Valley programme.

Launched in September last year, Asia Silicon Valley has two primary objectives: promoting innovation and research and development for devices and IoT applications, and upgrading Taiwan’s start-up and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

“We also have a digital nation and innovative economic development plan, called Digi-plus, to upgrade our digital infrastructure, with a special budget to accelerate implementation,” said Tsai.

She expressed confidence that completing these projects will help make Taiwan’s government more efficient, upgrade its industry, bridge the urban-rural divide, and raise the overall quality of life.

“These advances will help Taiwan leave old industrial models behind, and gradually become a benchmark country for digital economy,” she said.

Taiwan is home to the world’s largest electronic manufacturing services company, Foxconn Technology Group, and the largest notebook computer original design manufacturer in the world, Quanta Computer Inc.

Participants in this year’s WCIT includes Foxconn, Quanta Computer, light-emitting diode manufacturer Lite-On Technology Corp and Taiwanese telecommunications company Chunghwa Telecom.

WCIT is the largest information technology event in the world, bringing together 3,000 participants from 80 nations. The event, which took place in Brazil last year, will be held in Asian countries for the next five years. Malaysia is set to host the event in 2020.