On September 9th and 10th, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association co-hosted a GCTF virtual seminar with the theme of The Future of Work in a Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Taiwan), the Taiwan Ministry of Labor, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Slovak Economic and Cultural Office Taipei.
Hiroyasu Izumi, Chief Representative of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association gave a speech at the opening ceremony. In the 2nd session of the second day, Shigeo Umezaki, Director of the National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health in Japan, presented his research into AI in the workplace.
The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association will continue to actively contribute to GCTF in the future.
The whole speech from Chief Representative Izumi follows.
Distinguished guests,
I am pleased to co-host today the GCTF Virtual conference on “The Future of Work in a Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery.” I would like to especially welcome the Slovak Economic and Cultural Office Taipei, who joins us as a co-host of this meaningful conference. Since last year, the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on our lives and economic activities and still shows no sign of slowing down.
The labor sector is no exception. In particular, stay-at-home requests issued in response to the pandemic have largely restricted our social activities, leading to changes in the way we work, such as the spread of remote working.
As a result, we were forced to accept the rapid progress of digitalization, but these rapid changes have brought about various problems in the development of IT infrastructure and the readiness of companies and employees for the digital transformation.
In the future, it is expected that further actions will be required to deal with job creation and substitution in keeping with AI-related technological innovations.
So far, diverse research has been carried out on the revolutionary influence of digital technologies in the labor sector such as the impact on our working style and employment. I believe that it is essential to share our experiences and hold discussions at this conference so as to prepare for the post-COVID society.
At today’s virtual conference, Mr. Umezaki, Director of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, will deliver a keynote speech titled “Introduction to research related to AI in workplaces in Japan” to tell us about the current situation in Japan. I hope that there will be substantive and fruitful discussions among participants.
Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to every participant and all staff for their efforts and commitment in organizing today's online conference. I extend my best wishes for the great success of this conference.
Thank you very much.
