October 27, 2021 

On October 26, Minister Tsung-Tsong Wu of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) gave remarks at the Tech resilience & Innovation: outlining a new roadmap for Taiwan and the Czech Republic Forum organized by the President of the Czech Senate, Miloš Vystrčil. Minister Wu highlighted Taiwan’s vision of the long-term plans and expressed his anticipation of the Taiwan-Czech science and technology collaboration.

MOST will continue to enhance the collaboration with the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) and the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TACR), and jointly select and subsidize distinguished teams for cooperation fuannually. MOST and its counterpart agencies are dedicated in integrating and enhancing the results of the collaboration programs. The visit of Miloš Vystrčil, President of the Czech Senate, in 2020 has paved the way for Taiwan Tech Aren’s (TTA) interactions with Czechia. In October of 2021, MOST was invited by the Prague city government to participate in the StarUp World Cup Summit. Minister Wu stated that science parks in Taiwan has been steadily developing for 40 years, and MOST looks forward to sharing its experiences and strategies in developing and managing the science park ecosystem.

Minister Wu then called on Sen. Jiří Drahoš (Chairman of the Committee on Education, Science, Culture) together with Dr. Jong-Shinn Wu, Director-General of National Space Program Office (NSPO), Dr. Wayne Wang, Director General of the Hsinchu Science Park (HSP) Bureau, Dr. Pei-Zen Chang ,Vice President of Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and Dr. Cheng-Hong Cho, President of Institute for Information Industries (III), Dr. Hong-wei Yen, Director of Science and Technology Division, TECO, Prague. Czech Republic and Ms. Pei Yu Lee of MOST.

The list of Czech Participants included Sen. Jiří Drahoš (Chairman of the Committee on Education, Science, Culture), Sen. Roman Kraus (Chairman of the Committee on Healthcare), Sen. Miroslav Plevný (Member of the Committee on Education, Science, Culture), Prof. Jan Konvalinka (Vice-rector of Charles University, top Czech virologist), Dr. Michal Lukeš (Director-General of the Czech National Museum), Dr. Jaroslav Burčík (Director of the Center for Cybersecurity, Czech Technical University) and Dr. Martin Mejstřík (Chief of Staff of Sen. Drahoš).

Senator Jiří Drahoš praised Taiwan's control of the epidemic, and stated Czech Republic’s emphasis on information security issues. In response, Minister Wu mentioned that the new Ministry of Digital Development will be officially established next year to facilitate national digital transformations. The Director-General of NSPO briefly introduced Taiwan's plan to strengthen research in space exploration and satellite technology in the next ten years and talked about the ongoing collaboration between space industries in Taiwan and Czechia. The  Director-General of HSP also shared the experience of operating science parks in Taiwan.

Senator Jiří Drahoš mentioned that Taiwan and the Czech Republic are in similar positions and both need to be more prepared in terms of science and technology capacilty building in the face of power. Back in the years (2009-2017) when he was President of Czech Academy of Sciences, he took the lead in promoting scientific and technological cooperation with Taiwan. Looking forward, he would continuously promote international S&T cooperation with Taiwan in particular on major issues of information security and epidemic prevention technology. Senator Jiří Drahoš hoped that the Czech Republic go hand in hand with Taiwan to create a long-term friendship and cooperative relationship.

Minister Wu agreed with Senator Jiří Drahoš and extended his welcome to Senator’s plan of leading a scientific and technological delegation to Taiwan. Minister Wu stated that Taiwan has long-term investments in space technology and information security research. The MOST has provided considerable support and assistance for universities and research institutes to transfer experimental results, and for the establishment of start-up companies. In particular, the establishment of TTA has assisted start-up scientific research companies and facilitated their development. Science Parks and the Industrial Technology Research Institute also contributed their joint efforts and played important roles. Minister Wu also hoped that Taiwan and Czech Republic would have more opportunities for cooperation on new innovation issues in the future.

After the meeting, Senator Drahos hosted a press conference together with Minister Wu. They both emphasized that facing the challenges of post-epidemic global transformation, only the international science and technology cooperation can overcome those tough tasks. Furthermore, this visiting will help Taiwan and the Czech Republic to enhance long-term cooperation.

Science and technology information and personnel exchanges have played  an important role in the establishment of a solid cooperative relationship between Taiwan and Czech Republic. The significance of S&T cooperation have been highly valued by high-level science and technology executives at both sides. Taiwan and Czech Republic have many complementary cooperative relations in the field of science and technology. Minister Wu and Senator Delajos both look forward to achieving more solid cooperation.

Contact person (Media):

Ms. Jennifer Hu

Department of International Cooperation and Science Education

Tel: +886-2-27377560

Email: jenhu@nstc.gov.tw