TAIWAN can certainly serve as the Philippines’ role model in information and communications technology (ICT), given its strong foothold in innovation. For almost three decades, Taiwan has been highly regarded as a vital player in the global IT supply chain, as well as a significant partner for many international brands including Apple, Google, and Microsoft. The ICT sector has therefore become a huge source of pride for Taiwan. Taiwanese companies hold significant market shares in semiconductors, PCs, mobile devices, broadband appliances, and display products and technologies. Taiwan is the world’s largest supplier of these products, collectively contributing to over 16% of Taiwan’s total GDP. With the rise of AI and IoT, Taiwan is shifting from an economy based on high-tech manufacturing, to an economy driven by intellectual property and innovation. Taiwan’s high-tech competitiveness includes top talent, a well-developed industrial chain, and a formidable entrepreneurial spirit. These elements combined enable Taiwan’s ICT industry to leverage today’s trends and pave the way for the technology of the future. The ‘Taiwan Excellence’ experience, organized by the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), will provide businesses ranging from small to large from the Philippines a platform to offer the latest IoT innovations, directly from leading Taiwanese IoT solutions providers. This is a great opportunity to consider how these solutions can enhance one’s own business offering. The participating companies in this year’s Asia IoT Business Platform (AIBP) held at the Marriott Hotel, Manila are: Accton Technology Corp., a best practice awardee for manufacturing quality; Apacer Technology Inc., a leading producer of industrial SSDs, digital consumer products, and memory modules; Aver Information, award-winning education and communication innovators; ICP DAS, an industrial automation technology innovator and enhancer; and, IEI Integration Corp., a leading industrial computer provider. ‘Taiwan Excellence’ is confident in the Philippines’ ability to progress in ICT, as indicated by its IT sector’s steady spending. “We see progress in the Philippines’ ICT sector and Taiwan will be happy to contribute to this growth and help Filipino enterprises further succeed in their operations,” said Wen-Chung Chang, Director of the Economic Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines. Taiwan is determined to advocate for innovation, improve employment and income distribution, and to create more balanced regional development, by leveraging the immense momentum of many markets, at present. According to Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Taiwan moves up to 16^th in global competitiveness, a notch higher from the previous year’s ranking. Furthermore, Taiwan has steadily maintained its place as the 4^th most competitive economy in Asia as declared in the 2019 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking. With many software and hardware engineers and technological centers and innovation clusters growing organically throughout major Taiwanese cities, Taiwan is on its way to becoming a major startup hub in Asia, and even internationally. Just how substantial is the potential global economic impact of IoT? Citing a research report by McKinsey & Company’s Global Institute, ‘Taiwan Excellence’ said the estimate could range to “$3.9 trillion to $11 trillion a year by 2025”.   McKinsey has continued a significant expansion In Taiwan with the recently launched regional industrial IoT hub in Taipei, due to its rapid growth in the past 18 months. Factories could be the strongest driving force behind IoT’s generated value, followed by cities and health.