Senior Advisor of Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan visit to NAIST (December 9, 2021)

 Dr. Yu-Han Tsou, Senior Advisor of Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, Ms. Yueh-Jung Wu, Senior Assistant to the Representative, Science and Technology Division and Ms. Yu-Jou Lin, Section Chief, Cultural and Education Affairs, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka visited NAIST on December 9, 2021. This was Dr. Yu-Han Tsou's second official visit to NAIST, following her visit in July.

 NAIST President Dr. Kazuhiro Shiozaki, Prof. Jun Ohta, (Executive Director/Vice President), Dr. Tsukasa Ogasawara (Executive Director/Vice President), Mr. Goro Watanabe (Executive Director/Director General) and Dr. Masako Shimamoto (Global Engagement Officer) welcomed the delegation.

 President Shiozaki opened the delegation visit with greetings and introductions, where Dr. Tsou expressed her gratitude for President Shiozaki's opening remarks and Prof. Ohta's keynote speech that were given at the "2021 Japan- Taiwan Foresight Advanced Materials for Biotechnology and Precision Health and Medicine with AI" symposium, organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in November. Dr. Tsou explained Taiwan's science and technology policy and priority research fields and emphasized the need for science and technology cooperation and international industry-academia collaboration to address common issues such as the aging society that both Taiwan and Japan are facing. Dr. Tsou also suggested holding a Taiwan-Japan symposium on more specific themes, including issues directly related to industry, in cooperation with NAIST.

 After the courtesy visit, the delegation toured our campus, starting with a visit of the clean room and common facilities and an introduction to the Division of Materials Science equipment. Next, they visited the Applied Stress Microbiology Laboratory (Prof. Hiroshi Takagi), where the delegation had a lively discussion about Awamori, which was brewed and commercialized using yeast developed through industry-academia joint research. The delegation then visited the Ubiquitous Computing Systems Laboratory (Prof. Keiichi Yasumoto) to see its Smart Home. In the Smart Home, Professor Yasumoto and Mr. Shinya Misaki (D2) explained their research on recognizing and predicting the living activities of residents in the Smart Home by analyzing data from sensor devices installed in the Smart Home. In addition, Mr. Koki Tachibana (M2) gave a demonstration on litter classification and a location recognition system using visualization of trash pickup activities, and Mr. Tomoki Tanaka (D1) gave a demonstration on optimal shelter guidance in the event of disasters, both part of the laboratory's research to realize a Smart City. Dr. Tsou and her colleagues were very impressed with the NAIST students' advanced research and achievements and encouraged them to participate in the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) internship program. The research presentations by our faculty and students matched the interests of Dr. Tsou and her colleagues, who are working to promote international industry-academia collaboration to solve social issues, and they seemed very impressed with what they experienced.

 It is expected that this visit will further stimulate educational and research collaboration between Taiwanese research institutions and NAIST.