Taiwan-Japan technical exchanges to enhance international connections for smart machinery

　To step up promotion of smart machinery and foster Taiwan-Japan exchanges and business opportunities in smart manufacturing industries, the Smart Machinery Promotion Office co-hosted the 2017 Taiwan-Japan Smart Manufacturing Forum at the Tokyo Big Sight on June 8, 2017 as part of the 2017 JPCA Show.  At the Forum, Taiwan's Smart Machinery Promotion Office and Japan's Mitsubishi Electric signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate cooperation between domestic smart machinery firms and Mitsubishi’s e-F@ctory and more opportunities for Taiwan-Japan collaboration in developing smart machinery application software, and ultimately to establish Taiwan-Japan alliance in form of the best partnership in expanding their global smart manufacturing market. 

　In response to the rising smart manufacturing development around the world, Taiwan has been launching the “Smart Machinery Industry Promotion Program” since 2016 with three primary strategies of “connection with the local industries”, “connection with the future”, and “connection with the international world” to enhance industrial development.  In addition to combining capabilities of the industry, the government, and the academia, this Program puts more emphasis on the international exchanges with the smart machinery industries in Europe, the US, and Japan. 

　The output value of Taiwan’s PCB industry approximately amounted to TWD565.6 billion in 2016, equivalent to 30.2% share of the global market.  In this regard, the Taiwan government has included the PCB industry as one of the priorities in smart manufacturing promotion program.  Also, a national PCB smart manufacturing alliance has been forged and PCB smart manufacturing platform and uniform equipment communication protocols have been established. The foregoing is to form Taiwan’s system integration abilities in PCB smart manufacturing and to conduct technology exchanges with Japan’s SI firms (e-F@ctory alliance).  (June 2017)
/CCS