Investment symposium on Internet of Things in Taiwan

In his keynote speech, Tomohiro Takashima, Director-General of JETRO's Invest Japan Department, emphasized the importance of Taiwan and Japan working in collaboration to resolve common issues such as that of an aging society with a falling birthrate, increased social security costs and problems in environment and energy, emphasizing how the Taiwan-Japan relationship is deepening in terms of tourism and economy. He made a passionate call for investment in Japan by describing the country's allures from three different standpoints: Japan's massive consumer market, the high level of technology and deregulation. Mr. Takashima also illustrated the opportunities available to enter the Japanese market by introducing specific cases in the past.

Toru Shimizu, Director of the Japan Embedded Systems Technology Association (JASA), spoke on specific business opportunities in the Japanese IoT industry. Following that, Mike Koike, President of Advantech Co., Ltd., and Jeryuan Yan, CEO of Next Drive Inc., individually offered examples of activities conducted by Taiwanese firms to begin local operations in the field. Keibun Chen, a staff member of the Taiwanese Company Investment Support Group of the JETRO Foreign Affiliate Support Division, introduced JETRO’s support services and its framework. The session ended with representatives from local governments; the Osaka Business and Investment Center (O-BIC), Kyoto, Aichi and Nagoya City; respectively presenting on activities they are now conducting in the IoT field.

At a networking reception following the symposium, Hokkaido joined the local governments which presented earlier to offer information on their own advantages and possible incentives at a PR corner. A consultation corner was also set up by JETRO to respond to inquiries from Taiwanese companies. It became clear that many Taiwanese companies have great interest in doing business in the Japanese IoT field.