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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by