On October 8, the Department of Information Technology, Taoyuan, held a press conference for the 2022 Taoyuan Big Data Application Exhibition, which was opened on the first floor of the Landmark Plaza Taoyuan in Qingpu (Zhongli District). Karen Yu, Director of Taoyuan’s IT Department, said that after being upgraded to become a special municipality, Taoyuan City has been actively developed into a smart city, an achievement widely recognized internationally. This year (2022), the city received the Smart Cities Award of the WITSA (World Innovation, Technology and Services Alliance) Global Innovation and Tech Excellence Awards, known as the Oscars of the information industry. Taoyuan City has kept up with latest data management trends and created big data analysis platform used by the city government, jointly building the first municipal hybrid cloud data platform with Microsoft Taiwan. By using data to improve the efficiency of Taoyuan’s governance, the city has become a benchmark for digital governance in Taiwan, and the vision of a digital living environment for its citizens has become reality.

Paul Lee, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the Asia Silicon Valley project, said that the National Development Council strongly supports Taoyuan’s big data policies. The Asia Silicon Valley project has as two main objectives the development of the Internet of Things industry and the integration of startups and technology. Taoyuan is an important ICT (Information and Communications Technology) city suitable for the implementation of the Asia Silicon Valley project. The Taoyuan City Government has put great effort into collecting and cleansing data, ensuring data consistency, and achieving digital transformation, with the aim of further using data for the creation of new business models.

Director Yu further said that, in order to allow citizens to see the future of data applications and achievements by the Taoyuan City Government, an exhibition is being held until October 20, focusing on data visualizations of “Taoyuan’s Past and Present” and “Taoyuan’s Future” respectively. There are four exhibition areas, entitled “Urban Data,” “Taoyuan Data Power,” “Data Interaction,” and “Enterprise Data Power.” By showcasing how the Taoyuan City Government is using data, visitors can easily see how the city is making progress. Through interactive data experiences citizens visiting the exhibitions can get a further sense of participation in the decision-making by the government. On October 15 and 16, there will be four “Future Data” symposiums held on the 3rd floor of COZZI Blu Taoyuan. Representatives from industry, government, and academia, who are highly experienced in data governance, have been invited to explain to the public the future of Taoyuan that is being created with the help of data governance.

Director Yu pointed out that the exhibitions were jointly curated together with specially invited companies that have been in cooperation with the city government and have been successful in data analysis and interaction. Among them are Microsoft – offering AI face recognition technology; uCare Medical Electronics – providing smart physical fitness testing; and Aerotropolis – showing how transportation and energy can benefit from a smart operations platform. Citizens are welcome to experience the magic of smart data applications. During the time of the exhibitions, when trying the interactive experiences in the four exhibition areas, citizens can use their Citizen Cards to collect stamps that can be exchanged for gifts. Daily limited gifts include Bluetooth tracking devices, multi-functional pens, travel and hard case bags, and Taoyuan point (50 points)!

Among the attendees of the event were Yu Wan-ru(Karen Yu), Director of the Department of Information Technology, Taoyuan; Lee Po-jung(Paul Lee), Chief Administrative Officer of the Asia Silicon Valley project; Wu Chao-hsian, Deputy General Manager, Taoyuan Metro Corporation; Arakawa Jun, Chairman, Xpark, Taiwan Yokohama Hakkejima; Danny Chen, General Manager, Microsoft Taiwan; Lai Li-chen, Deputy Director, Taoyuan Operation Office, Chunghwa Telecom; Yan Jun-yang, Manager, uCare Medical Electronics; and Shi Min-hong, Associate Manager, Landmark Plaza.