To improve the domestic industrial production environment and promote national industrial innovation strategy, the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) conducted the 2016 Industrial Park Development Policy Forum on August 16th at GIS NTU Convention Center in Taipei. The theme of this year’s conference is Development of Innovation Eco-system by IoT (Internet of Things) Applications in Industrial Parks. The local government officials presented issues and challenges that they have faced pertaining to industrial parks for open discussion. In addition, for a better industrial development environment, policy issues related to IoT applications in industrial park development and management were discussed.

The conference focused on how to apply new technologies, such as ICT and IoT, to add values to the whole production chains. The MOEA aims to develop local innovation eco-systems so that employment and investment can be better improved; demand from new markets can be met; and more revenues can be generated.

This forum was chaired by Mr. Shen Jong-Chin (沈榮津), MOEA’s Deputy Minister. Two keynote speeches, Asian Silicon Valley x Smart Taoyuan and Taichung’s Intelligent Machinery Industry Program, were given by Dr. Jhu Song-Wel (朱松偉), Commissioner of Taoyuan City’s Department of Economic Development, and by Dr. Lu Yao-Zhi (呂曜志), Commissioner of Taichung City’s Department of Economic Development, respectively. Other participating panelists included Mr. Hui-ching Yeh (Deputy Mayor of New Taipei City), Mr. Chung-Rong Wu (Deputy Mayor of Tainan City), Mr. Tsung-Chei Lin (Commissioner of Taipei City’s Department of Economic Development), Mr. Wen-sheng Tseng (Commissioner of Kaohsiung City’s Department of Economic Development), Ms. Hui-Hsueh Kao (Counsellor at MOEA), and Mr. Wen-ku Huang (Director of MOEA’s Export Processing Zone Administration).

Mr. Shen (MOEA’s Deputy Minister) encouraged both central and local governments to promote the application of IoT technology in the era of global economy; for example, the Asian Silicon Valley Project has been proposed to respond to the trend of smart applications in industrial parks. Through applying Internet technology, components, and services to industrial parks, competitive products and services can then be created for export.

To effectively integrate administrative resources from central and local governments, the panelists shared ideas on the direction and strategies of developing intelligence application for industrial parks. By building partnerships, the central and local governments can jointly solve the problems faced in the local economic development. At the end of the forum, in addition to recognizing the contribution by all participants, Mr. Shen concluded the panel by asking IDB to further study and then effectively respond to questions raised in this forum afterwards.