Taipei, July 21 (CNA) Vice President Chen Chien-jen on Sunday called on the international hacktivist community to help amplify the voice of the Taiwan people to promote the country's democratic development and policy goals.
Speaking at the award ceremony of the 2019 Taiwan Presidential Hackathon in Taipei, Chen said Taiwan hopes that through the hackathon competition, it can share the spirit of co-creation with international friends.
This is in line with the purpose of President Tsai Ing-wen's recent Caribbean visit, which was to share with the world Taiwan's advancements in the areas of democracy and technology and its resolve to help realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, Chen said.
Hacktivists typically engage in the use of technology to promote political agendas or social change, seeking solutions to problems through open data and group efforts, Chen noted.
That is an approach that Taiwan has already adopted in its new concept of governance, which involves public participation in policy making, he said at the ceremony at the Presidential Office.
Hacktivists worldwide, therefore, can help give voice to the sentiments of the Taiwan people, which in turn will allow the government to perform better and provide better services, Chen said.
The second edition of the Presidential Hackathon kicked off in March, with 23 international teams from 15 countries participating under the theme "Enabling Sustainable Infrastructure."
This year's winners were the teams Mentadak from Malaysia and CoST from Honduras.
Team Mentadak proposed solutions to eliminate graft and corruption in the government procurement process, while team CoST applied open data to optimize the allocation of national resources.
