Meet ITRI President Edwin Liu

TaiwanPlus News

After a three-decade career in the U.S., Edwin Liu returned to Taiwan to lead the Industrial Technology Research Institute. There, he manages 6,000 employees and oversees research across dozens of disciplines. The government also taps Liu to help decide Taiwan's technological future. TaiwanPlus sat down with him to find out what it's like being at the helm of a global tech leader.

Transcript

00:00What's it like to manage 6,000 employees, supervise research across dozens of disciplines,

00:07and help guide a country's technological development?

00:10That's a question Dr. Edwin Liu faces every day.

00:14He's the president of Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute, or EITRI.

00:20Liu is an electrical engineer by trade.

00:24He lived in the United States for over 30 years, working at companies like Nexon, Quanta,

00:29and Bechtel.

00:31He has experience in the tech, power, and artificial intelligence sectors, and returned

00:37to Taiwan in 2018 to take up the post.

00:40I think it's kind of an opportunity, an opportunity you cannot plan for.

00:47At a time when people are questioning whether Taiwan's energy supply can handle the country's

00:52ambitious AI and tech development goals, Liu seems uniquely qualified to face these challenges

00:58head-on.

00:59Over the past 50 years, at each stage of Taiwan's economic growth, EITRI played different roles,

01:09depending on what we need to do to help the government and help the industry.

01:13EITRI has thousands of scientists and dozens of laboratories, and researches everything

01:18from textiles to biomedicine to green energy and beyond.

01:23Some of these subjects go well beyond the scope of Liu's expertise, but he says problem

01:28solving is a universal scientific language.

01:32You don't have to know every single detail, but you have to know how to put things together,

01:38and that's the key.

01:39One problem affecting Liu is Taiwan's low birth rate, and the resulting labor shortage.

01:45EITRI needs highly skilled, well-trained workers, and it competes with the higher-paying private

01:51sector for that talent.

01:53Liu says he doesn't want to attract people with higher salaries, but rather flexibility

01:58and the opportunity to grow a career.

02:01We provide a growth opportunity.

02:03So you finish out of school, you can grow in different disciplines, different areas.

02:09For experienced people, we provide sufficient freedom for them.

02:13As EITRI's president, Liu is often tapped as an advisor to help guide Taiwan's technological

02:19advancement.

02:20Liu believes having a long-term goal isn't enough.

02:24Concrete plans are needed, and those must be revisited and refreshed often.

02:29We build a 2030 strategy and roadmap, and then just last year, we refreshed it, become

02:352035 technology strategy and roadmap.

02:40With over half his life spent in the United States, Liu admits that moving back to Taiwan

02:45took some getting used to.

02:47I have never worked in Taiwan, so that's the number one culture shock.

02:51Number two, I have been in the private sectors, and coming to this semi-government organization

02:57has to deal with a lot of the government policies.

03:01But he says being EITRI president is an act of service to Taiwan.

03:06He wants to share his years of valuable experience with his home country.

03:11My passion to help Taiwan, that's very important.

03:15And I also like to share my experience with whatever I've done in the U.S. to kind of

03:23make EITRI a better organization.

03:25Liu is now in his seventh year as EITRI president.

03:30With a focus on long-term planning and problem solving, he's solidifying Taiwan's reputation

03:36as a leader in high tech.

03:38Devin Cai, Scott Huang, and Leslie Liao in Hsinchu for Taiwan Plus.

03:45For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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