▎GLOBAL OUTLOOK

The 13th Global Initiatives Symposium in Taiwan (GIS Taiwan) was held during January 21-25, 2022. This year’s theme is “Normality,” featuring such trending academic subtopics as “Green Renaissance,” “Pandemic Resilience,” “Blockchain Reimagined,” and “Sci-Tech Society.” The pandemic alert was raised to Level 3 when preparations were underway, so most events had to be held online. The organizers still managed to continue the dream in the post-pandemic era by coming back ever stronger.

NTU President Chung-Ming Kuan kicked off the opening ceremony with a speech welcoming the President of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Jia-Yush Yen. Numerous other distinguished guests delivered inspirational speeches, including Mr. Giuseppe Izzo, the Regional Vice President and Taiwan Managing Director of STMicroelectronics’ Asia Pacific Region, as well as NTU alumnus Mr. Rikash Lin, the co-founder of Calls Over Ridges. Mr. Jaushieh Joseph Wu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Ms. Chee Ching, the President of Far EasTone Telecommunications, gave insightful speeches at the closing ceremony.

The 5-day annual symposium attracted many enterprise leaders from home and abroad. Notably, several distinguished leaders and scholars were invited to participate in the GIS talk on Urban Governance. Mr. An-Pang Kao, Deputy Mayor of Taoyuan City, Mr. Charles Lin, Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung City, Mr. Chung-Che Chou, Director General of National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, and Dr. Li-ling Huang, Professor at the NTU Graduate Institute of Building & Planning, all shared their insights on intelligence, culture, and sustainability, hoping to encourage student attendees to reflect on their urban memories.

The Startup Carnival was held at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, featuring twenty-five startups. Well-known industry leaders and movers and shakers generously shared their professional experiences with the audience, including the founder of Yutopia, Yu Lee, Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Leslie Sun, the famous YouTuber HowHow, and Managing Director of ENERCON Taiwan, Bart Linssen.

Hsin-Wei Yuan, Chief Director of the organizing committee, remarked, “In the pandemic era, people need more listening and tolerance. GIS Taiwan sparked new ideas and emotions through interactions in diversified activities.” This event shows all the possibilities that can come to fruition through an international academic forum. NTU expresses its gratitude to the distinguished guests and enterprises for their generous support. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year.