25th Annual Meeting Opens in Vilnius
The 25th Taiwan-Latvia-Lithuania trilateral science and technology cooperation annual meeting opened on 11月12日 in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, led by NSTC Deputy Minister Chen Bing-Yu, co-chaired with Laima Taparauskien? , Director of the Higher Education, Science and Innovation Division of the Lithuanian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, and Lauma S?ka, Deputy Director of the Higher Education, Science and Innovation Division of the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science. In his opening remarks, Chen Bing-Yu said that since Taiwan signed joint call agreements with Latvia and Lithuania, over 65 trilateral research projects have been cumulatively subsidized, with about 35 applications received this year, demonstrating fruitful results, and expressed strong confidence in continuing to produce impactful research outcomes.
Over 20 Years of Uninterrupted Cooperation
The NSTC explained that science and technology cooperation between Taiwan, Latvia and Lithuania began in 2000年 with cooperation frameworks signed with the two countries' Ministries of Education and Science, establishing a joint fund to subsidize trilateral cooperative research projects. Since 2002年, the trilateral science and technology cooperation annual meeting has been held annually in rotation among the three countries' capitals without interruption. Next year it will be held by Taiwan in Taipei City, continuing to deepen research exchanges and cooperation. Chen Bing-Yu thanked Lithuania and Latvia for their long-term support, affirmed the deep cooperative friendship and research impact among the three countries, and looked forward to further deepening cooperation and expanding opportunities to participate in Horizon Europe.
Focus on Biomedicine, Materials and Energy
The NSTC noted that among the over 65 jointly subsidized projects to date, fields covered include biomedicine, materials development, social sciences and energy, demonstrating the mechanism's far-reaching impact in linking the three sides' research communities, expanding diverse research methods and deepening personnel exchanges. During the meeting, Taparauskien? shared Lithuania's mechanisms for promoting research Zhuoyue, talent cultivation and international cooperation, as well as future priority research directions. S?ka shared Latvia's experience and insights from participating in the trilateral cooperation projects. NSTC Department of Engineering Technologies Director Hong Lewen also introduced the NSTC's smart robotics project, subsidizing Taiwan's academic community to use AI computing and decision-making to promote autonomous edge intelligent computing platforms, and to develop robotic applications in smart care, inspection and disaster rescue, and smart agriculture.
Visits to University and Spin-off Company
The NSTC said that after the meeting the delegation visited Vilnius University, touring the Center for Medical Sciences and the Life Sciences Center. The two centers are Lithuania's largest life sciences research and teaching bases, with Zhuoyue research strength and international reputation. The delegation also visited Caszyme, a company focused on gene-editing technology tool R&D, enzyme engineering and customized biotechnology solutions. The company is a research spin-off of Vilnius University Life Sciences Center, commercializing top laboratory academic R&D results, serving as a successful industry-academia linkage example and providing reference for future trilateral cooperation in biomedicine and biotechnology.