Chairman Douglas Hsu’s speech at the 47th Anniversary of the Oriental Institute of Technology

The world is changing too rapidly, unprecedentedly both in speed and scale.  However, as my professor used to address that this is an issue encountered by every industry.  Only the industry with the quickest response, can it be able to seize the opportunity and revelation brought by the new era.  I hereby urge you to not only advance more quickly to welcome the 50^th anniversary as a milestone 3 years from now, but also share my recent experiences to hopefully inspire new ideas.

The penetration of mobile network has accelerated the growth of Internet of Things (IOT) and initiated a brand new lifestyle.  In the future, the world will be connected through IOT, and automatically triggered senses and motions.  We must adapt to the various changes resulted from infinite connections.  Furthermore, the application of Big Data is also among the important trends.  Not only the retail and telecom industries should seize it, the schools should also think about what kinds of data we now possess, how to further filtrate, analyze, and study the applicable information so as to plan strategy.

The world economic developments and currency movements are critical points for us to monitor, in particular with the sluggish growth in China, Taiwan’s exports have dropped relatively in accordance.  Some people may suggest Taiwan should not be overly dependent on China, but if not cooperating with the world’s second largest economy, is there another alternative?  Ten years ago, Southeast Asia may be a good option, but given the region’s speedy development recently, it is no longer the way it was.

Lately, the Group’s electronic toll collection (ETC) system has been internationally acclaimed by receiving the “Industry Award” at the 2015 ITS World Congress and IBTTA Annual First Award.  During the past, ETC was wrongly portrayed by the media as taking away toll collectors’ jobs.  In fact, Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection not only provides 2~3 job transfer offers to each collector, over 90% of them have succeeded in finding new jobs.  Therefore, at each demonstration, the actual participation of toll collectors is very minimal.  We take particular pride that the establishment, research and development of this most successful ETC project are completely innovated in Taiwan.  Aside from requesting cooperation from Malaysia, India, Australia and Canada, the ETC has also been selected by the Ministry of Economic Affairs as Taiwan’s role model of industrial technology exporting.

Therefore, “Science and Technology” are key factors to succeed in this chaotic, rapid changing environment.  Just like the Apple watch on my wrist which reminds me hourly to get up to stretch and record the amount of my movement, calorie consumption, heart beats, etc.  This device can even answer phones and bring many conveniences to our daily lives.  Similarly, the application of ETC is also very environmental friendly by saving time for the users waiting for making toll payments, its paperless design, less gasoline consumption by not restarting the engine.  With the advanced technology development, electronic and smart cars have become increasingly popular.  Petroleum price may not always remain low, so ETC is expected to play an important role in the new age transportation.  Taiwan has already gained advantage in this area.  Hopefully people will be able to embrace the application of ETC and IOT in order to achieve new milestone for Taiwan in the global place.

SMEs (Small- and medium-sized enterprises) can find their competitive edge if they are willing to innovate and can provide the needed technology in this new era.  Take ETC for example, it may possibly become the 10^th listed company in the Far Eastern Group.  In particular, the school as an educational institution should harness the key technology and think through how to cultivate the talents for the overall economic structure in this IOT era.  Eventually, one of the objectives in education is to be employed.  Compared to the neighboring countries, Taiwan enjoys the highest penetration of the higher education.  The enhancement of key technology employees can certainly elevate the nation’s overall competitive advantage.

Lastly, I would like to congratulate Oriental Institute of Technology (OIT) on the solid foundation established during the past 47 years.  In the future, we hope everybody will think through how to keep the essentials, renovate, innovate, and always remain efficient with brave vision.



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