OT-1955
July 24, 2019
Remarks by AIT Acting Director Raymond Greene
at the III 40th Anniversary Celebration
July 24, 2019
Minister Kung, Minister Shen, Chairman Lee, President Cho, distinguished guests, wǔ ān!
I would like to congratulate III on its 40th birthday. III began fostering cooperation between the Taiwan and U.S. information industries long before terms like “digital economy” or “digital transformation” became global buzzwords. This shows the vision of III’s founders and the importance and longevity of its success.
AIT is also celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, through a year-long celebration called AIT@40. Each month we showcase a different area of the U.S.-Taiwan partnership. In June we highlighted U.S.-Taiwan cooperation on technology and the digital economy. We kicked off this month by co-hosting with III a Global Cooperation and Training Framework, or GCTF, on Network Security and Emerging Technologies that brought over 40 participants from 23 countries across the Indo-Pacific region.
We partnered with III on this important event because Taiwan is such a critical link in global technology supply chains. It is also home to some of the world’s most advanced semiconductor and electronic component manufacturers in the world. The World Economic Forum concluded last year that Taiwan has emerged as one of the world’s four “super-innovators.”
U.S. technology firms are committed to this market because Taiwan companies are trusted partners. When U.S. firms invest here, they feel that their intellectual property is safe, trade secret protections will be enforced, and courts will adhere to the rule of law. For this reason, many major U.S. technology firms are increasing their investments in Taiwan in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, cyber security, and 5G.
5G is one of the most important technology developments in the world today. As 5G technology rolls out, it is vital that we work together to ensure that the benefits of 5G are distributed broadly, that data is secure, and that the intellectual property all of you are working to develop is protected from theft. U.S. and Taiwan 5G technologies, that are dispersed widely within a private sector protected by the rule of law, will create the environment to achieve these goals.
Cybersecurity for existing and future technology is also a key area of cooperation between AIT and III. For example, in both 2018 and 2019, AIT and III worked together to bring Taiwan companies and experts to the RSA cyber security conference and trade show in the United States.
AIT and III have also collaborated to support Taiwan’s fintech sector by organizing a blockchain delegation to the United States last year. The group visited experts from the University of California, FinTech unicorns, AI companies, large U.S. financial institutions, and global technology leaders to learn how they are bringing blockchain products to customers.
These are only a few of the many examples of how the partnership between AIT and III contribute to the development of a secure digital infrastructure and stronger financial institutions.
Let me conclude by once again congratulating III for reaching this milestone anniversary. Thank you for your partnership. AIT and III have grown together these 40 years, and we look forward to seeing what exciting progress our next 40 years will bring.
