An Upgraded ESG Technology Alliance Drives Changes in Digital Governance across ASEAN

Taiwan and Japan take technological exchanges a step further 

TAIPEI, Nov. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Geopolitical tensions in the Asia-Pacific region have triggered a crisis in global supply chains. Taiwan and Japan have recently expanded their collaborative efforts and exchanges in the technology field. Both markets share the characteristics of interdependence and complementarity. Thus, the two regions have close partnerships, especially in foresight technology and economic and trade cooperation. With flourishing governmental and civil exchanges, Taiwan-Japan collaborations continue to thrive.

Sunrisemedium, a Taiwanese digital media outlet, and Startup Island TAIWAN, a public sector start-up brand, organized the ESG Opportunity Matchmaking and Exchange Forum for Taiwan-Japan in November of this year, to which they invited 9 major technology start-ups from Taiwan and Japan to discuss the opportunities for cooperation between the two regions in the ESG field. The forum focused on joint efforts to enter the ASEAN market with solutions and collaborative approaches in three dimensions: digital transformation, environmental sustainability and intelligent infrastructure. The participating technology start-ups from Japan include QUANDO, zeroboard and VACAN. Taiwan's participating companies include Wishing-Soft, Sustaihub, Dawoko, Canopy Impact Investment, Blutech and TMY Technology.

Representatives from Taiwan and Japan reached consensus on three important topics that are key in accelerating regional integration and achieving the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050:

1. The relationship between Taiwan and Japan evolves from trusted partners to a regional ESG technology alliance: Jointly capturing the Asia-Pacific market requires one to two years of resource coordination and planning, and needs to drive a collective supply chain upgrade for ASEAN members

2. Taiwanese and Japanese companies jointly promote ESG with altruism as the core: Companies in the two regions serve as models for and drivers of the digital infrastructure and circular economy ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region. One assists others to maximize their business value.

3. Taiwan and Japan accelerate the sharing of their experience in the application of AI in both regions: Taiwan and Japan have similar population aging processes, lifestyles and educational systems. As such, this dramatically shortens the journey of AI machine learning.

With the synergy of assistance, complementarity and reciprocity, Taiwan and Japan have initiated 9 key paths to industrial transformation. The 9 key paths include heavy industry, manufacturing, energy, construction, transportation, information and communications, low-orbiting satellites, agriculture, livestock and life services. The forum focused on three key themes in line with the ESG paths:

1. Digital transformation overcomes human limitations and successfully drives business decisions:

QUANDO's remote collaboration platform accelerates the transformation of aging industrial facilities; Wishing-Soft's SaaS dramatically reduces ESH (Environmental, Safety and Health) risks; and Sustaihub's AI technologies optimize ESG decisions.

2. Carbon reduction, the circular economy and local entrepreneurship nurture environmentally sustainable supply chains:

zeroboard's cloud services for the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions help companies decarbonize; Dawoko's forestry circular economy connects 30 companies to help create a new model for living responsibly; and  Canopy Impact Investment's integration platform empowers new ventures in agriculture and food to expand the impact of their ESG paths.

3. Smart infrastructure facilitates digital governance in public and private sectors:

VACAN's AI-based platform, which detects space that is not being used such as empty seats in restaurants and empty spaces in parking lots, maximizes space utilization and can be repurposed to meet emergency relief needs; Blutech's wireless sensing technology overcomes limitations of field management such as physical wiring; and TMYTEK uses 5G and satellite communication technologies to build the data transmission and communications foundation for a smart city. 

Taiwan-Japan exchanges and cooperation are just around the corner. The two goals for 2023 are:

1. Leverage Taiwan's strength in executing proofs of concept (PoCs): Collaborating on the plans for the Japanese supply chain market, and establishing a presence in the Asia-Pacific, European and American markets

2. Connect Taiwan's and Japan's supply chain data: Sharing the digital build of software and hardware to reverse the renewable energy deficit in the Asia-Pacific region

Japan, as a leader in the circular economy, is the first G7 country to consider ESG when making decisions concerning investment in foreign exchange reserves in 2021. In addition, Japan has put in place policies on digital governance and boosted the transformation of local traditional industries. All the efforts eventually make the society be prepared to enter the aging society with AI applications. These policies and their applications will influence digital development across all ASEAN countries. Taiwan, as the invisible driver of the global technology supply chain, will continue to support the R&D and applications of Japanese partners. Furthermore, Taiwan is also developing flexible international co-creation models. Taiwanese innovation teams are able to empower Japanese counterparts to deliver more comprehensive and sustainable services to ASEAN members. Resource integration will be the focus of Taiwan-Japan exchanges in 2023. Sunrisemedium and Startup Island TAIWAN will match the ESG resources of more Taiwanese and Japanese companies and create cross-country clustering benefits in Asia-Pacific supply chains.

For more information, please visit Sunrisemedium's website at https://sunrisemedium.com/press/233/esg-exchange-forum-for-taiwan-japan-innovation-community

Press Contact

SUNRISEMEDIUM, Han Lin, hanlin@sunrisemedium.com

SUNRISEMEDIUM, Sean Lee, seanlee@sunrisemedium.com