Taiwan and many other countries have set up measures, such as travel bans, border closures, curfews and lockdowns, to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday last week, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced that effective the following day, foreign travelers would be denied entry into Taiwan to battle the sharp increase in COVID-19 cases over the previous couple of days. European countries and North America also closed their borders to restrict arrivals by non-residents.
By integrating its National Health Insurance and immigration and customs databases, the government identified cases with real-time alerts during clinical visits based on travel history and clinical symptoms.
Furthermore, Taipei uses QR codes, and online reporting of travel history and symptoms to track and classify risk of infection among arrivals. These data provide the government with real-time information for faster immigration clearance.
Aside from affecting people’s mobility, this crisis has had a significant effect on the economy. Many countries have proposed financial assistance, tax relief and contingency packages to protect businesses from the financial ramifications of the pandemic not only due to disruptions in operations, but also to global supply chains.
To boost Taiwan’s health capabilities and business resiliency, the authorities and businesses could strengthen the digital infrastructure for industries and the healthcare system.
The UN has set an agenda for digital transformation to support government capacity developments for effective engagement on new technologies.
With its 2014-2019 Information and Communications Technology strategy coming to an end, the UN late last year announced a plan to develop cyberdiligence and analytics on the path of digital integration to meet its 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The strategy focuses on emerging technologies and partnerships in the public and private sectors.
Since 2018, the European Commission has funded a 20 million euro (US$21.9 million) project for industry and infrastructure management research, and a 1 billion euro project for healthcare and biomedical research using digital twin technology.
The projects aim to provide a virtual copy of physical situations to simulate scenarios, such as industry processes and biological processes of diseases. With the projects, authorities can estimate precisely and thus provide predictive measures for corrective actions, optimize efficiency and diagnose problems before the physical situations becomes serious.
The aim is to create a revolutionary potential for digital industry infrastructure and a digital healthcare society for all Europeans.
Taiwanese authorities and industries can develop their own digital twin technology:
First, establish a data management infrastructure to collect and manage large amounts of data; second, develop a flexible cloud-based platform for process simulations and multidisciplinary collaboration for process management; third, enhance and assure cybersecurity and data transparency through distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain; and fourth, establish an integrated collaboration to continue developing and monitoring digital twin systems and strategies.
In the battle against COVID-19, Taiwan has demonstrated a successful model using intelligent technologies and advanced data management.
In response to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) nationwide development plan for contemplating the future of work and economic enhancement, the next step would be to further investigate and develop digital twin technology to boost the health and resilience of businesses.
Ng Ming Shan is a leadership in energy and environmental design accredited professional and a registered architect in the UK and Switzerland. She is doing research on construction automation and digitization at the Chair of Innovative and Industrial Construction at ETH Zurich. Hackl Jurgen is an assistant professor at the University of Liverpool and is affiliated with the data analytics department at the University of Zurich.
To The Honorable Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜): We would like to extend our sincerest regards to you for representing Taiwan at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday. The Taiwanese-American community was delighted to see that Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan speaker not only received an invitation to attend the event, but successfully made the trip to the US. We sincerely hope that you took this rare opportunity to share Taiwan’s achievements in freedom, democracy and economic development with delegations from other countries. In recent years, Taiwan’s economic growth and world-leading technology industry have been a source of pride for Taiwanese-Americans.
Next week, the nation is to celebrate the Lunar New Year break. Unfortunately, cold winds are a-blowing, literally and figuratively. The Central Weather Administration has warned of an approaching cold air mass, while obstinate winds of chaos eddy around the Legislative Yuan. English theologian Thomas Fuller optimistically pointed out in 1650 that “it’s always darkest before the dawn.” We could paraphrase by saying the coldest days are just before the renewed hope of spring. However, one must temper any optimism about the damage being done in the legislature by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), under
As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition. Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening
To our readers: Due to the Lunar New Year holiday, from Sunday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Feb. 2, the Taipei Times will have a reduced format without our regular editorials and opinion pieces. From Tuesday to Saturday the paper will not be delivered to subscribers, but will be available for purchase at convenience stores. Subscribers will receive the editions they missed once normal distribution resumes on Sunday, Feb. 2. The paper returns to its usual format on Monday, Feb. 3, when our regular editorials and opinion pieces will also be resumed.
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