Top-level science and technology meeting held after 12-year hiatus

Taipei, Dec. 13 (CNA) A meeting of a high-level science and technology advisory board returned on Wednesday after a 12-year hiatus, convening top scientists and industry leaders to offer advice on a path forward for Taiwan's technology development over the next 10 years.

The three-day Executive Yuan Science and Technology Advisory Board Meeting, last held in 2011, opened Wednesday in Taipei and will issue a report offering the meeting's conclusions on Friday.

The conference will focus on two main themes. One is green technologies amid the global effort to move toward carbon neutrality, and the other is the possible mutual enhancement between artificial intelligence (AI) and the semiconductor industry.

Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and Science and Technology Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) are leading the meeting, and Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) is serving as the top technology advisor.

The advisers consist of leading figures from academia and the private sector who have in-depth knowledge of Taiwan's industries and supply chains and how they are being affected by geopolitics, according to the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).

Over the three days, the group will try to come up with both mid- and long-term technology-development strategies with the goal of helping Taiwan achieve top-notch technical capabilities, the NSTC said.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who will leave office in May 2024 after finishing a second four-year term, lauded Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem in her opening remarks, and said the country will invest NT$300 billion in a "Chip-Driven Industrial Innovation Plan" to combine generative AI with Taiwan's semiconductor development.

On green technologies, the government will mobilize the resources of different ministries, academia, industry, and civil groups to push for technologies that can help Taiwan achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, she said.

Chen said the meeting would focus on those technologies that are expected to have a major impact on society and its development in the next 10 to 20 years.

"We expect that the advisers' professional and visionary advice, based on Taiwan's own existing advantages, will bolster and ensure the continued prosperity of Taiwan's tech sector," he said, noting that the 2024 budget for technology development is more than NT$150 billion, up 18 percent from 2023.

The seven advisers attending the meeting include National Taiwan University President Chen Wen-chang (陳文章), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Chairman Mark Liu (劉德音), chairman of IC designer MediaTek Inc. Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介), and former Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠).

They will also include William H. Gates Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University Hsiang-tsung Kung (孔祥重), International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry President Ehud Keinan from Israel, and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation President Robert Schlögl from Germany.

The Executive Yuan Science and Technology Advisory Board meeting was first convened in 1980 by then Minister without Portfolio Li Kwoh-ting (李國鼎) and held 31 times up to 2011.

There was a restructuring of the advisory board in 2012 into an office under the Executive Yuan called the "Board of Science and Technology" that did not hold annual meetings.

Another restructuring in 2023, however, led to the creation of the NSTC, which took over the functions of the board, which led to the Executive Yuan setting up the "Science and Technology Advisory Board" once again in April 2023.

It will be expected to meet once a year in principle, according to the guidelines for the board outlined in April 2023.