ITRI Chairman Chih-Kung Lee said that for the past 45 years ITRI has played a vital role in promoting Taiwan’s economic growth and now industrial development requires the integration of multi-disciplinary technologies such as AI and big data. He expects that Dr. Liu, with his over 30 years of experience in technology management and his good connection with industry and academia, can connect ITRI to international communities, leveraging global R&D resources and ITRI’s key strengths to pursue state-of-the-art innovation. He pointed out that it is also important to join the forces of both governmental and local sectors and to build close links to the world, which can assist in industry transformation and create new opportunities for Taiwan.

Vice Minister Wang stated at the inauguration ceremony that ITRI is a world-leading R&D institute excellent in its innovation capability, which earns it many international accolades, and most of the award-winning technologies have been transferred to Taiwan’s companies. It has also cultivated many outstanding tech talents and entrepreneurs. All of these efforts show that ITRI is Taiwan industry’s strong backer and is an important pillar in enhancing Taiwan’s competitiveness. Wang hopes that by bolstering ITRI’s innovation-oriented R&D and coordinating cross-sector resources, Dr. Liu can lead ITRI to bring Taiwan’s industry to a new horizon and help it shape sustainable competitive advantage.

Dr. Liu remarked that ITRI’s innovative R&D capacities are globally renowned and that ITRI has become an important innovation partner to many international firms. Moreover, ITRI has been active in promoting the development of emerging industries and commercialization of R&D results. He said that in his new post, he intends to lead ITRI in continuing to maximize its advantages in multidisciplinary innovative R&D and adopting Blue Ocean Strategies. ITRI’s R&D work should be market-oriented and will adopt the PEST analysis framework, taking political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological factors into consideration. ITRI will also serve as an effective bridge between the academia and industry, as well as between Taiwan’s R&D and international advanced research. ITRI needs to strengthen the roles of its overseas offices. At the same time, ITRI will work in tandem with government efforts to reform quasi-governmental non-profit entities and drive industrial transition, he added.

Dr. Liu received his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley, in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Before joining ITRI, he was the Senior Vice President of Smart Grid & Grid Management at Nexant, Inc., where he was responsible for initiatives in advanced grid management solutions and strategies. Prior to Nexant, Dr. Liu held various technical and management positions at Quanta Technology, Bechtel, PG&E, Siemens, and Control Data Corporation (CDC). Dr. Liu is an IEEE Fellow and the former Chairman of the IEEE Computer & Analytical Methods Subcommittee. Besides being an energy domain expert, he has practical experience in big data analytics and artificial intelligence research as well as application development, along with a strong background in startups, R&D, and business strategy.