The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of the American Innovation Center (AIC) and its reopening as it seeks more collaboration with Taiwanese partners in innovation in the post-COVID-19 era.
Located at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, the AIC moved from a first-floor space to a second-floor office next to the Songyan Creative Hub.
Speaking through a prerecorded video at the center’s reopening ceremony, Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said this year has been difficult for people and she expected the newly reopened center to create more possibilities by integrating the innovative energy of Taiwan and the US.
Photo: CNA
The first of its kind in Asia, the AIC was established in 2014 to promote the shared US-Taiwan values of innovation, entrepreneurship, digitalization, and culture and design by offering related programs to public audiences, AIT Deputy Director Raymond Greene said.
Over the past six years, more than 133,000 people attended more than 620 courses related to innovation and entrepreneurship, digitalization, culture and design, he said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world, people are exploring innovative models for the post-pandemic era, Greene added.
A forum marking the AIC’s anniversary in the afternoon focused on cross-disciplinary innovation, especially on artificial intelligence, design, virtual reality and augmented reality development, and human-computer interaction, which was cohosted by National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, he said.
Thanking the AIC’s old partners, such as Microsoft Taiwan and IBM, Greene welcomed new partners including Kaohsiung-based makerspace provider M.Zone, the Service Science Society, the Pacific Service Design Association and the UX/UI Design Association.
The Songshan cultural park is central to the Taipei City Government’s “wall-less museum” concept that seeks to connect old and new spaces, Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) said.
On one side of the park lies the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, while on the other side is the Taipei Railway Workshop, which is to become a national railway museum under a Ministry of Culture project, he said.
With construction of the Taipei Dome expected to be completed in 2022, the neighborhood would become a new hub for cultural and sports events, and galvanize local tourism, he said.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS