With the alleviation of the pandemic, the Administration for Digital Industries of the Ministry of Digital Affairs held the "2022 DIGI⁺ X TCA Global Digital Talent Awards" period-end results exhibition from December 1 to 2, which expanded to include offline brick and mortar events with the participation of over 300 industry professionals and students. Not only did the graduates demonstrate their professionalism and creativity on stage, a portion of the exhibits were also presented in an interactive format to add more interest to the presentation of their achievements. The award ceremony today (12/2) invited the Minister of Digital Affairs, Audrey Tang; the Deputy Director of the Administration for Digital Industries, Betty Hu; the principal investigator of the Ministry of Education's ITSA Program, Shih-Hsuan Yang; and the AIT Economic Officer, Patrick Boland, to attest to the exceptional achievements of our cross-disciplinary digital talents and the effectiveness of international studies and communications.

Minister Audrey Tang of the Ministry of Digital Affairs stated that the DIGI⁺ and TCA programs are dedicated to nurturing talents with cross-disciplinary proficiency and upgrading the future employability of students through industry mentorship. To date, more than 2,000 digital professionals have been trained. Many of the graduates have secured positions in well-known companies such as TSMC, AU Optronics, Galaxy Software Services, Compal, Cathay Financial Holdings, Zealodigital, Phison, E.SUN Commercial Bank, Macronix, and ASML, among others, with students from non-ICT backgrounds who have gone on to work in digital industry-related jobs after graduation. For example, in 2020, a philosophy graduate successfully entered the financial industry as an analyst after graduating from the DIGI⁺ program, where he pursued a cross-disciplinary study of digital marketing.

From 2020, with the aim of strengthening the exchange of talents with our democratic allies, the TCA program has been integrated with the DIGI⁺ program to promote the formation of multinational teams of Taiwanese students and international students in Taiwan to enter enterprises or corporations for joint studies, enabling international students to familiarize themselves with Taiwan's industries while pursuing their studies, which in turn helps Taiwanese enterprises bridge overseas markets by utilizing their respective cultural backgrounds in their home countries. In the past two years, the TCA program has trained more than 130 international students, and one of them, a foreign doctoral student, successfully applied for an employment visa this year and has successfully stayed in Taiwan to contribute his expertise.

A total of 229 Taiwanese students and 79 international students from 20 countries were trained in the two programs this year. A six-month hands-on project was initiated in July, from which 42 groups were selected to participate. Following fierce competition, the "Bridge Cable Inspection Rope Climbing Vehicle" by the CECI won first place in the DIGI⁺ X TCA Global Digital Talent Awards. The project features a video inspection module that can be attached to cable climbing equipment, allowing real-time video inspection by ground personnel to optimize high-risk inspection and safety operations.

As the pandemic subsided in the second half of this year, the borders of various countries have opened one after the other. Next year, the program is expected to expand on its invitations to international students in Taiwan, welcoming domestic companies interested in digital technology to apply as internship units and join the ranks of digital talent cultivation. In addition, the Administration for Digital Industries plans to promote internship programs for domestic students in overseas companies, in the hope of promoting global digital talent exchange with allied countries that share the same vision. For information on related activities, please refer to the following resources:

DIGI+ Talent Accelerator and Jumpstart Program
Fan page：https://www.facebook.com/digiplustalent

Talent Circulation Alliance (TCA) Program
Official website：https://www.talentcirculationalliance.org/
Fan page：https://www.facebook.com/talentcirculation