Our first stop this morning was at AIT, the American Institute of Taiwan. We heard from Christian Koschil, who told us about the mission of the AIT, as well as his position in the organization and how the history of Taiwan has impacted the organization’s mission and goals. What I found most interesting from his presentation was the distribution of FDI into Taiwan. Taiwan’s top source of FDI is green energy, primarily in wind, followed by solar. However, Taiwan still imports nearly 97% of their energy to meet their high demand for energy in the semiconductor and technology industry. I thought it was really interesting that the largest source of FDI into the country only accounted for 3% of the country’s energy. I am also curious about the trajectory of FDI and if increased investment will have an impact on Taiwan’s energy imports.
Later in the day, we heard from a variety of speakers who focused on the importance of supply chain management. Florian, the CEO of a supply company, emphasized the importance of diligence and detailed record keeping when supplying parts to diverse organizations. What I found most interesting about his presentation was how the things he finds the least interesting tend to be the most profitable. I also learned that for car parts, Florian must shelve spare parts for the entire life of the car, plus 10 years. This gave me perspective on the behind the scenes work for repairing and replacing parts.