The partnership between Taiwan and Japan has been further deepened amidst the challenges encountered by the global industry chain, with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) officially joining hands with the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) on commencing a new working model that consists of co-investment and R&D, as well as accelerating on the innovation in areas such as semiconductor, electronics, energy, chemistry, mechanics, and biomedicine.
ITRI and MUFG convened the “Online Forum for Partnership in Innovative Technology between Taiwan and Japan” on the 10th of September, which centralized on topics such as the development of industries with innovative systems in Taiwan, as well as the development in semiconductor, EV technology, and industries for Taiwan and Japan, and offered information for investment and technical partnership in Taiwan.
ITRI also announced the signing of a MOU with MUFG Bank, the largest financial group in Japan, at the forum, where the astounding partnership between the two parties will intensify the collaboration on innovative technology for multiple areas in the future. An “Exchange Platform for Innovative R&D and Industry between Taiwan and Japan” was also established at the same time, where both parties will enhance on the international collaboration in technology, convene regular international conferences, exchange information on market technology, as well as assist with the excavation and matchmaking of commercial opportunities, in order to expand on the support on partnership between Taiwanese and Japanese businesses, and facilitate working opportunities for businesses on both ends.
Masato Ito, General Manager of the Taiwan branch of MUFG Bank, commented that he is happy to see that the partnership between Taiwan and Japan is going to further intensify through the signing of this MOU. The industry-government-academic collaboration established between Taiwan and japan would accelerate the R&D in semiconductor and electronics, energy, mechanics, chemical materials, and biomedicine. MUFG Bank will also promote the latest information about the investment environment of Taiwan for clients through its vast interpersonal network and abundance of business resources, which will generate additional interests for top tier Japanese businesses to invest in Taiwan and work with Taiwanese companies.
“Judging by the collaboration between Taiwanese and Japanese industries in the global industry chain, the latter is traditionally responsible for the upstream materials and equipment, while the former handles the downstream processes, production, and management, and the partnership between the two is focused on the production from technology transfer,” said Chang Pei-zen, the Executive Vice President of ITRI, who also commented that Taiwan has been constantly improving in technical capability in recent years, and has even arrived at the stage of mutual technical development, while Japan possesses a profound degree of technology foresight, though the country has been under social pressure in realizing technology industrialization over past several years.
Stephen Su, Vice President and General Director for the Industry, Science and Technology International Strategy Center (ISTI) of the ITRI, commented that the pressure derived from the pandemic in 2020 has accelerated the speed of restructuring for the industry chain, and the reassurance in the continuity of production and service provision has become the most essential focus for businesses. Aside from the US, Japan is also promoting a reformation of the supply chain, and Taiwanese businesses should exert their agile characteristics and establish new connections with international partners since the degree of complementarity is larger than that of competition between Taiwanese and Japanese industries.
The signing of the MOU between Taiwan and Japan this time will co-promote the actual partnership between the two in industry and technology. Apart from exchanging opinions pertaining to the information of domestic and overseas industries on a regular basis, interviews will be conducted in the future for Japanese businesses that have set up shop in Taiwan for the purpose of inquiring the needs of international partnerships, while domestic legal persons and entities will be concatenated to facilitate technical cooperation between Taiwan and Japan and expand investment in Taiwan.
(Cover photo source: MUFG)