The AI boom continues. As indicated in Taiwan Public Opinion Research Center (TPOC) data collected through the QuickseeK database, online response in Hsinchu County on the “smart city” issue ranks number one among all cities in Taiwan. Since taking office, Hsinchu County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke has been actively helping to implement the International AI Smart Park. He has also put a lot of focus on smart governance, and applications in transportation, administration, convenient services for the public, and other county affairs. These efforts have won Hsinchu County several awards, and made clear how much the county government has achieved in promoting smart governance.
As shown in TPOC data for the past six months (February 15, 2024 to August 14, 2024), among all “smart city” discussions on the Internet, 4,462 were related to Hsinchu County — placing the county number one among all cities in Taiwan. Hsinchu County has been actively promoting smart city projects in recent years, and is committed to realizing the vision of creating “smart and sustainable cities and villages” that are “technological, smart, and sustainable”.
Magistrate Yang stated that he identified the AI development trend when he took office more than five years ago. This is why the Magistrate started working with the county government team to take the lead in promoting establishment of the AI Smart Park. The Park has already attracted four major companies: The world’s largest cloud server provider, Wistron Corporation; networking and communications giant Accton Technology; world-leading manufacturer of human-machine interface chips Elan Microelectronics; and well-known precision medicine biotechnology company General Biologicals Corporation (GBC). These companies are expected to complete construction one after the next this year. Once they go into operation, 4,000 jobs will be created, with an annual production value exceeding NT$100 billion. The park is helping promote employment, attracting people from elsewhere in Taiwan, and helping retain AI talents in Hsinchu County.
The county government has also invited scholars and experts to establish a Smart City Advisory Committee. The government is also implementing measures focused on the five major aspects of smart transportation, smart industry, smart education and culture, smart medical and healthcare services, and smart governance to build up Hsinchu County’s smart resilience.
Magistrate Yang stated that, with the aim of effectively dealing with traffic congestion problems, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City, and Hsinchu Science Park Bureau have collaborated in implementing smart traffic control measures. Through the implementation of the Greater Hsinchu Transport Corridor Road Traffic Information Integration and Congestion Improvement Services Project, driving times have been reduced by 20% to 30% with the aid of local smart traffic control. In terms of National Highway No. 1, with the implementation of the Smart Traffic Management and Control System Project for the Zhubei Interchange Area in 2021, driving times have been lowered by 18% to 21% during peak morning hours. By extending past experience, the county government is implementing the Greater Hsinchu Commuter Corridor (National Highway No. 1 Hsinchu Section) Smart Traffic Control Project to continue improving traffic flows.
Hsinchu County has been granted several smart governance awards in recent years. For example, in 2023, the county was awarded the Smart City Outstanding Contribution Award in Smart Governance, and was recognized with a 2023 IDC Future Enterprise Special Award for Smart Cities - Best in Connected City, for the Smart Traffic Management and Control System Project for the Zhubei Interchange Area. Hsinchu County was the only non-municipal government to receive this award.
In order to improve public service efficiency, Magistrate Yang continues to promote administration reforms aimed at removing systemic “sludge”. The county government has implemented public and non-profit kindergarten registrations, integrated into the Ministry of Digital Affairs’ MyData service. This allows for online kindergarten student registrations and lot-drawing for placements, and has seen usage rates of up to 80%. The system has effectively helped the public avoid numerous hassles, as well as saving time in kindergarten internal operations, creating an overall win-win. In the future, the MyData service will be further expanded to include applications for disabled parking permits, long-term care services, and more.
With the coming of the AI era, the county government continues to organize Smart City New Knowledge and Technology trainings and visits. These are helping to enhance government personnel familiarity with new technologies related to ChatGPT, AIoT and the latest ESG development trends, as well as digital transformation applications. It is hoped that the courses will help front-line operating personnel stay on top of the latest information about technology, and apply new ideas and tools in simplified public service processes, so that county citizens can experience the wonders of a smart city. The county government is also actively participating in the 2023–2024 Smart City Living Application Subsidy Program – Taoyuan-Hsinchu Generative AI and Automation Platform Construction Project promoted by the Ministry of Digital Affairs. The project takes Hsinchu County and Taoyuan City as pilot sites to build up generative AI and automation platforms, helping agency personnel apply advanced AI technologies in their daily operations (such as assistants for taking transcriptions and minutes, intelligent customer service, administrative report draft generation, etc.) and thus enhancing administrative efficiency.
In terms of digital transparency, the government’s Open Data Portal has opened up more than 700 datasets. The portal won the county government first-place awards in the Group-2 Local Government Open Data Gold Award granted by the Ministry of Digital Affairs in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023. The county government is currently building up data platforms to more comprehensively integrate data within the government’s remit, so that Hsinchu County can keep moving further in digital governance and realizing the vision of a technology capital, smart city, etc.