Release date: November 18, 2022
Releasing unit: International and Cross-strait Sports Division
Contact person: Ms. Lee Nien-en
Tel:(02)8771-1933
E-mail：b578@mail.sa.gov.tw
Media contact person: Section Chief Huang Hsiao-fen
Tel: (02)8771-1932
E-mail：zpip625@mail.sa.gov.tw
The Sports Administration (SA) held the 2022 Sport Event Taiwan Workshop exchange meeting on October 29, inviting local government, international partners, domestic and international scholars, experts, sports innovation startups and sports event organizers to join the grand occasion. With the borders opened now that the pandemic has eased, over 100 people including experts from Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and Israel and representatives from industry, government and academia in Taiwan came together and engaged in exchange.
This year Sport Event Taiwan Workshop focused on the three themes of branding, innovation and networking, holding 15 online courses from April to August and inviting almost 60 lecturers from Taiwan and overseas to take it in turns online each week, introducing global sports event innovation trends and successful experience of organizing events. The courses attracted over 16,000 viewers. The Sports Administration hopes, through these courses, to open up the international vision of sports event organizers and build on the core value of Taiwan brand sports events.
Witnessed by SA Deputy Director-General Lin Che-Hung, HYPE Global Virtual Accelerator Taiwan (HYPE GVA Taiwan) signed a cooperation MOU with COO of HYPE Sports innovation Zvika Popper, continuing partnership. This project is in its fifth year. SA commissioned the Center of Industry Accelerator and Patent Strategy (IAPS) of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University to sign a cooperation MOU with HYPE Sports Innovation to jointly build a platform for international exchange for Taiwan sports innovation startups. On the day, many excellent startups from Taiwan and overseas set up stalls at the venue to show their products. In his keynote speech, Zvika Popper shared the story of HYPE and the course and vision of finding opportunities in chaos to build a global community and promote sports innovation.
SA believes that cross-area exchange can raise the quality of sports events overall. Consequently, the online courses specially arranged dialogue between Taiwan and international sports event organizers and innovation startups and invited scholars and experts to ask questions to lead discussion to raise the level of discussion, and this was very well received by participants; also, a Fun Sports Hackathon was held with the theme International Sports Event X Innovation Application; academics, sports event organizers and innovation startups cooperated to “solve” the problem. The final was held at the exhange meeting on October 29. Experts in various fields served as judges and selected the proposal that could bring the moist substantive benefits. The Hackathon built a bridge between different areas and facilitated exchange and mutual stimulation of inspiration, producing feasible proposals for execution that can serve as reference when sports event organizers are holding future events.
Japan Sport Tourism Alliance President Munehiko Harada gave a keynote speech titled Current Trends in Sports Tourism in Japan after COVID-19. He said both Japan and Taiwan have opened their borders and surveys show that Japan is now one of the most popular international destinations. Health travel, mobile travel and adventure travel are all trends, and outdoor activities are targeting women and the elderly which is worth paying attention to. Tourism office at Nozawaonsen Tourism Association Advisor Miwa Ichikawa shared a sports tourism city success case. Taiwan’s only male athlete at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, skier Ray Ho, also attended and shared his experience of training at Nozawa Onsen, Japan.
There were also two panel sessions, titled Taiwan Brand Sport Event-Youth Creativity in Marking and ASPN Forum – The Prospect of Sports Events Innovation, respectively. The former had academics and experts, sports event organizers, media representatives exchange current strategy and overseas experience on youth creative marketing, international sports event cases, innovation application, and other issues. For the latter discussion, HYPE VP Global Programs Elinor Yakobson and officials from sports authorities in Vietnam and Thailand shared on the combination of sports events and digital technology, with best practice event cases of each country for reference.
SA promoted Sport Event Taiwan Workshop amidst the pandemic and appreciates the efforts of various sports event organizers to continue to build up sports event holding capability; as a show of gratitude, Lin Che-hung, Deputy Director-General of SA presented certificates of appreciation during the exchange meeting to express appreciation to HYPE , JSTA and AASM for their firm support; and also commended sports event organizers, innovation startups and experts and scholars for the support and assistance given to the Workshop this year. For the splendid highlights of 2022 Sport Event Taiwan Workshop online courses: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiq1IJzpwHR2G4sJI_IWk0-4PGvqtWFiC.