From government units to private enterprises all over the world, all units and organizations are striving for digital transition. Deputy Mayor of Taichung City Government Huang Guo-Rong led a delegation to visit Microsoft's global headquarters in Washington State on the afternoon of July 23, USA Pacific Time. Deputy Mayor Huang pointed out that Microsoft, as one of the world's leading AI manufacturers, has cooperated with outstanding global partners such as OpenAI to establish a comprehensive AI ecosystem services. Deputy Mayor Huang hopes this visit can help the government to understand the potential of related technologies adapting in government affairs and provide Taichung City with valuable experience and inspiration in digital transition.

 The visit was hosted by Kirk Arthur, General Manager of the Government Solutions Division of Microsoft's Global Public Affairs Group, and Kai Hua, Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft Taiwan, who introduced in detail the use of its AI services in the public sectors worldwide. Related cases include Copilot AI assistant, Azure OpenAI generative AI development platform, Azure cloud computing and other services.

 Deputy Mayor Huang pointed out that Taichung City’s “Digital Affairs Bureau” is the only bureau named “digital” in Taiwan’s local governments. And the development goals of Digital Affairs Bureau are “digitization” and “net zero”. Since its establishment, it has achieved fruitful results in promoting smart cities, integrating municipal services, and developing digital citizens. The digital citizen platform " e-Taichung" actively created by the city government has successively won the 2023 WITSA ICT, ASOCIO ICT Award, and 2024 GO SMART Award. The international awards proofed Taichung City Government’s efforts in promoting digital transition.

 "Digital power is the city's competitiveness!" Deputy Mayor Huang said that the city government is committed to promoting the development of smart city, combining industry-government-university-research associations and joining hands with major technology companies. For example, the city government and Microsoft are long-term and stable partners. Many important system services of the city government, such as e-Taichung App, Taichung City Vaccine Reservation System, etc., all use cloud computing support provided by Microsoft, laying a good foundation for Taichung to make good use of AI to optimize municipal services.

 Hua Kai-long, Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft Taiwan, also said that as the application of AI becomes more and more mature, many small and medium-sized enterprises and public departments in Taichung also have related needs, and he hopes that Microsoft can provide technical support services to further improvement in working efficiency. In this regard, Deputy Mayor Huang also hopes that the city government will continue to deepen its cooperation with Microsoft, accelerate the application of AI technology in city services, improve government efficiency, and promote citizen well-being.

 As Mayor Lu Shiow-Yen returned to Taiwan urgently in the early morning of the 23rd because of the typhoon, Deputy Mayor Huang Guo-Rong, who was accompanying the delegation, continued Mayor Lu's visit to the United States. He was also accompanied by Director of Digital Affairs Bureau Lin Ku-Lung, Director of Education Bureau Jiang Wei-min, Director of Information Bureau Luan Zhi-yi and Director of Secretariat Xie Jia-zhen from the Taichung City Government.