The end of the Executive Yuan's 2014 conference on fifth-generation (5G) mobile technology industry development marks the beginning of the government's action on this next phase of progress, remarked Premier Jiang Yi-huah at the closing ceremony of the event today, which was coordinated by the yuan's Office of Science and Technology (OST).
The premier enjoined the OST and Minister without Portfolio Chang San-cheng to review the conference's major conclusions and proposals, as they would serve as important references for ministries in formulating plans for the development of information and communications technology (ICT) businesses. The ministries involved with 5G should incrementally set up "dialog windows" with the academic and industrial sectors through the Executive Yuan's existing platforms and work hand-in-hand to bring out concrete results to propel the development of this future industry, the premier instructed.
The OST's 5G development conference reaped more bountiful results than ever as intense discussions and opinion exchanges were carried out between leaders of the industry, government, academic and research sectors, Jiang noted. In addition to commending both domestic and overseas academics and experts for generously providing outstanding views and proposals at the conference, the premier also expressed his gratitude to the staff of the National Science Council, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (TEEMA) for their time spent scheduling and planning the agenda of the conference.
"I believe that with the consolidated efforts and collaboration of the industrial, governmental, academic and research sectors, the nation will certainly be able to produce results in next-generation (5G) ICT industry development," he affirmed.
"With ICT's rapid growth and popularization, its related technologies have become areas of focus for governments the world over, as they can not only help improve a nation's industry, economy and standard of living, but also become a critical weapon for bolstering the nation's competitiveness," the premier continued.
"In Taiwan, for example, the government completed license bidding for fourth-generation (4G) mobile technology last year, and this year the country will officially enter the era of high-speed mobile broadband communications. In order to maintain the nation's leading position in the field of ICT and offer smart life applications to better meet people's needs, the ROC has to launch a comprehensive plan on next-generation mobile communications technology as early as possible so as to predominate the crucial patented technologies, develop a unique and exclusive system, implement it in Taiwan and based on these experiences promote ICT application services to the international market."
Tech industry strategy conferences are very important platforms to mold Taiwan's policies on advanced technologies, said Jiang, and they depend on the participation of scholars and experts from industry, government, universities and research institutes. Therefore, the government values these meetings and has high expectations for their conclusions, he indicated.
For instance, he said, building a more effective interactive topic selection mechanism among academies, juristic persons and corporations is extremely important for Taiwan in the initial investment and subsequent implementation phases of industry development, as mentioned in the summary report of today's meeting of vice ministers of related agencies and TEEMA chairman Kuo Tai-chiang.
In addition, the government will clarify details of issues mentioned in the meeting, such as forming effective strategies for intellectual properties and patents to protect Taiwan's businesses from interference when competing in the international market, building a testing environment that meets international standards to verify the practicality of Taiwanese products, and improving the service quality of Taiwan's businesses with a creative service model.
As for the future outlook of 5G, which he said is full of hopes and challenges, the premier remarked that Minister without Portfolio Chang San-cheng is his most important consultant when it comes to technology, and the premier hopes the meeting's conclusions can be integrated into relevant administrative measures, which are supervised by Chang, to efficiently raise the competitiveness of Taiwan's technology industries and the nation as a whole.