Signalling another milestone in the long-established relationship between the two countries, two research centres in Taiwan and India have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) that paves the way for them to work together on technology projects.
The MoU was signed remotely by Wang Chau-chang, Director of the Taiwan Ocean Research Institute (TORI) and T.G. Sitharam, the Director of a research centre at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG).
TORI is the national marine science and technology institute of Taiwan established in 2008. The research centre is one of the eight centres of the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan). IIT Guwahati is a public technical university established by the Government of India in 1994 and officially recognised as an Institute of National Importance in the field of engineering.
The MoU aims to deepen knowledge and expertise on technology for both countries. That should work for both students and faculty from each research centre. Under the agreement, TORI and the IITG’s Centre for Intelligent Cyber-Physical Systems (CICPS) agreed to jointly:
Inaugurated in 2021, the CICPS is one of several key technology innovation hubs directly funded by India’s Ministry of Science and Technology. Such focus on technology has been confirmed by Taiwan.
Wang Chin-tsan, Director of the Science and Technology Division at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in India, disclosed recently that India’s Technology Ministry had invested INR 16.1 billion rupees (US$210 million) in the country’s 25 research and innovation centres in 2021, and the CICPS was one of them.
Taiwan is looking to deepen the collaborative relationship between the two Asian countries.To do that, Wang Chin-tsan revealed that his department had also been in talks with India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences on the possibility of building cooperation with Taiwan on technology applications for sustainable disaster prevention.
Indeed, this is not the first time that Taiwan and India have collaborated. To date, the two have signed three MOUs on technology cooperation, including the recent non-binding agreement just inked. In February, Taiwan’s National Centre for High-performance Computing signed an MOU with the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur to collaborate in the field of information security technology. Last April, National Cheng Kung University and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras agreed to work together on networking technologies.
Both India and Taiwan have been known as powerhouses when it comes to technology. To date, Taiwan is called the semiconductor capital of the world with its unmatched semiconductor export sector. India’s ever-growing army of ICT professionals and a burgeoning ICT industry is world-renowned. Already, it is called the next Silicon Valley of the world. Cooperation should benefit both nations in the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).
Taiwan is driving towards digital transformation at seemingly breakneck speed. The island nation is shoring up its industrial capacity no doubt. For instance, it is investing heavily into education to produce new blood for its semiconductor industry. Today, the need for more experts in engineering and manufacturing has never been so pronounced given the technological advances of the car industry. Top of the list is the evolution of electric cars.
Moreover, its taking vital steps into digitisation. As reported on OpenGov Asia, it’s drawing up its Central Bank Digital Currency.
