Technology can greatly help both the government and the public face the challenges brought on by changes in the environment. Thus, the government has assembled the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Environmental Protection Administration of the Executive Yuan, the Council of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan, and Academia Sinica to jointly construct "Civil IoT Taiwan", a program which applies artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technology to set up smart living service systems to help care for Taiwan and those living here.

NARLabs' National Center for High‑Performance Computing (NCHC) under MOST has initiated the "Civil Internet of Things (IoT) Backbone Network Experimental Project", a sub-project of the "Civil IoT Data Application and Industry Development Plan", this year. By effectively utilizing national spectrum resources, particularly Band 20 (downlink: 816-821 MHz, uplink: 857-862 MHz), to build a Civil IoT backbone network service based on public interest, the NCHC hopes to accelerate and expand the popularization of IoT sensing equipment. In turn, this can assist local county and city governments with digital governance and narrow the digital gap between urban and rural areas.

To promote the Civil IoT backbone network services and open data platform, enhance value-added data applications in Taiwan, and implement data governance in the central and local governments, the NCHC held a technical demonstration for Civil IoT Taiwan at the GIS MOTC Convention Center in Taipei City on November 3rd, and shared the planning and expected results of various implementations of the project.

One of the Civil IoT uses demonstrated was the collection of environmental data of fields and greenhouses from Qiong Pu Cooperative Farm and Wei Hsun Farm in Shuilin Township, Yunlin County, which was transmitted to the NCHC through the experimental network and combined with meteorological data from the Central Weather Bureau. It is expected that this data can be used to help improve crop environments and prevent agricultural disasters. Also demonstrated was the collection of flooding information from the flood-prone areas of Tainan City (Zuojhen District and Annan District), which has been used to research water-related disaster prevention in both mountainous and flat areas. With the Civil IoT services platform and the Tainan City government's water information system, the collected data can help relevant units get flooding information in real time, showcasing the development of the NCHC's flood-related image recognition technology.

The event allowed attendees to witness the benefits of the Civil IoT project and the practical value of shared data. By continuing to test experimental networks in the future, we can find even more fields in which to assess how IoT technology can be used to meet public needs. The NCHC also hopes to expand the collection of public IoT data through its high-speed networks, data operation, and storage resources, and further utilize big data analysis and prediction to attain convenient services and digital governance in Taiwan under rapid technological development.