The 2017 International Data Economy Summit organized by the Industrial Development Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) gathered experts and scholars from Europe, the United States and the AODP (Asia Open Data Partnership) member countries in Taiwan on September 15. A total of 270 representatives of the industry, government, academia and research institutes from 12 countries attended this important annual event for Open Data.
Jer-liang Yeh, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Cabinet-level Office of Science & Technology under the Executive Yuan mentioned in his speech that many countries around the world have started to promote Open Data, but it still takes collective efforts to integrate data from different countries in order to solve major problems facing the entire world. The Executive Yuan therefore looks forward to working with other Asian countries to put together data from different sources to further develop cross-national partnerships and business opportunities. Jong-chin Shen, Minister of Economic Affairs, echoed what Mr. Yeh said and pointed out that data plays a vital role in the era of IoT and the data economy. The MOEA will do its best to connect the industry chain vertically from the upstream to the downstream in the hope that both hardware/software and services based on data analytics and applications can be fully developed, and Taiwan’s competitiveness can be taken to a new high.
The representatives of AODP member countries (Japan, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia) shared their experiences on how Open Data is promoted in their countries as well as key projects for future development. They also promised to continue to engage in the cross-national Hackathon as well as the establishment of an Open Data platform. This could serve as the first step for the long-term development of the data economy in Asia.
As for the integration of cross-border Open Data, Szymon Lewandowski, EU Policy Officer emphasized that the language barrier is an issue that has to be addressed, while Chi-ming Peng, president of the Open Data Alliance in Taiwan, believes in the potentials of AODP due to similar cultural backgrounds and problems shared by Asian countries. With proactive exchanges and cooperation of AODP members, more opportunities relevant to the data economy will be created, thus enhancing the momentum for entrepreneurial innovation and industrial competitive edge.