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TAIWAN Business.EU l institutions l agencies

TAIWAN PAVILION MSV 2019 The International Engineering Fair is an excellent opportunity for Taiwanese entrepreneurs to enter the Central European market. Smart technologies attract visitors to Smart City Expo in Taipei. Cooperation between Taiwan and the Czech Republic is actively taking place not only in the field of business but also in research and development of smart technologies. companies take place annually in Prague and Taipei.

This year will be the second year the Taiwan Pavilion is part of the International Engineering Fair (MSV), how would you evaluate your participation from last year? Last year we presented the first joint Taiwanese pavilion at MSV. Under the auspices of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), representatives from 17 Taiwanese companies participated in the 2018 trade fair in Brno. This year it will be possible to meet 18 companies at MSV, of which CHILI Development, for example, is participating in the trade fair again, building on the positive experience from last year. The response of the participating Taiwanese companies to last year's event was generally very good, many of them appreciated that they met directly with potential customers and were able to acquire new partners not only among companies from the Czech Republic, but also other Central European countries (Slovakia, Poland, Austria). With the opportunity to present products to the markets of several countries at the same time, Taiwanese entrepreneurs evaluated MSV as an excellent platform for establishing business contacts with Central Europe. Are there opportunities for Czech entrepreneurs to attend trade fairs in Taiwan? It is possible to obtain financial support special 2019

from TAITRA for selected trade fairs from the Taiwanese side, and we regularly offer these opportunities to Czech companies in their respective fields. From the Czech side it is possible, for example, to join trade missions organized by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (SP CR). Which of the Taiwan trade fairs the mission of the SP CR visited this year? In the spring of this year SP CR organised a large group of Czech entrepreneurs, university representatives and institutions to the Smart City Summit & Expo 2019 (SCSE 2019) held in Taipei. To mention some of the represented entities, it was for example CTU, Charles University, CzechInvest or Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TACR). Besides this delegation, several other groups from Czech towns and regions also visited the SCSE 2019. With almost 80 participants, Czech visitors were among the largest groups of foreign participants this year. Simultaneously with SCSE 2019, the 17th Session of the Taiwanese-Czech Joint Business Council was held in Taipei, focusing as well on smart city technology. The Council has been operating since 1998, when the SP CR founded it in cooperation with their Taiwanese partner the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA). Council sessions and bilateral meetings of Czech and Taiwanese

Do the Czech Republic and Taiwan have cooperation in other fields aside trade? Of course. A great cooperation takes place in research and development of above-mentioned smart technologies. Taiwan in conjunction with the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TACR) has been supporting joint research and providing financial support under the DELTA program since 2014, and this year under the follow-up program DELTA2. The support of applied research is aimed at the practical use of new or improved technologies, with emphasis on smart technologies and innovations. Thus, bilateral cooperation in 2019 offers further opportunities for cooperation between companies and researchers from both countries. In the spring of this year, the 6th Czech-Taiwanese Technology Day was held in cooperation with TACR, which enabled the establishment of new partnerships for the DELTA2 program. What events will be happening in 2020? The 18th Session of the Taiwanese-Czech Joint Business Council is planned to be held in Czech Republic in 2020 It will most likely take place in autumn, during the MSV fair in Brno. The preparations for SCSE 2020 started as well. The 7th annual SCSE will take place on March 24-27 2020 in Taipei. List of other Taiwanese fairs will be available in the Taiwan Trade Show brochure, available directly at the TAITRA booth at MSV or on the organization's website.

en.taitra.org.tw en.smartcity.org.tw/index.hp/en-us/ expo/scse www.spcr.cz www.tacr.cz/index.php/en