The Computex Taipei 2016
Established in 1981, this year’s event has 5,000 booths for 1,600 exhibitors from 29 countries to showcase their products.
Organizers said they expect over 130,000 international and local visitors trooping to the Computex, which runs until June 4, at the Taipei International Conference Center and at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.
“The 2016 show will also increase its focus on industry trends through the establishment of three new exhibits: SmarTEX (IoT technologies and applications), InnoVEX (innovation and startups), and iStyle (Apple MFi-certified peripherals),” an announcement on the event’s website said.
“These three exhibits will create a comprehensive overview of the Internet of Things and startup ecosystems.”
The first day of the event prominently featured a knee-high white robot called Zenbo, which drew the biggest audience, including Taiwan’s new president Tsai Ing-wen, who opened the show.
Developed by known Taiwanese notebook and smartphone maker Asus, the voice-controlled and English-speaking robot is designed as a home-help. It can even recite children’s stories and read receipts.
Virtual reality (VR) has been at the heart of this year’s fair, which comes weeks after the CES Asia tech show in Shanghai, China.
The government wants to capitalize on VR, an emerging industry, as one of the measures it is resorting to revive Taiwan’s struggling economy.
Tsai told visitors in her opening speech that her government is focusing on research and development as it wanted to promote Taiwan as Asia’s “Silicon Village.”
“Through the show, we have witnessed Taiwan’s ICT capability,” Tsai said.
“The government and industry alike can find the latest technologies and their direction of development through this world-class technological platform.”
Taiwanese Premier Lin Chuan said the “Asian Silicon Valley” is crucial to Taiwan’s future economic development, pointing out that attracting elite international talents is a key to the success of the project.
The “Silicon Village,” to be established in the northwestern municipality of Taoyuan, will have 21 hectares purely dedicated to Internet of Things (IoT) industry with a total production target of $30.69 billion a year.
