Dresden Strengthens Partnership with Taiwan in the Fields of Semiconductors and Smart Cities
Dresden’s smart city projects utilizing AI generated a tremendous response during a recent delegation visit to Taiwan. There was correspondingly strong interest in Taiwan in jointly advancing these initiatives, such as linking the EUDI and Taiwan Wallet.
At two international smart city conferences, Dresden garnered significant attention for its innovative projects in urban development and among local businesses. Dresden’s Mayor Dirk Hilbert presented the city at the international smart city conferences “Net Zero City Leaders Summit” and the “Taipei International Cities Forum,” to which Dresden was invited as the sole European representative.
During the trip, an agreement was also reached to advance cooperation on digital identities. A concrete goal is to establish interoperability between the European EUDI Wallet and the Taiwan Wallet. This is intended to enable citizens and business travelers to use digital documents and proof of identity across borders in a legally compliant manner in the future.
Mayor Dirk Hilbert signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, which formalizes cooperation in the fields of the semiconductor industry, smart cities, and education. A similar agreement had already been concluded with the city of Kaohsiung in September 2025. During the recent trip, the Dresden delegation exchanged views with Kaohsiung’s city leadership on the networking that has already taken place, particularly in the field of education.
To conclude the visit, the delegation met with the directors of the biotechnology institutions at the National Biotechnology Research Park in Taipei. Here, too, it was agreed to establish new contacts between Taiwan and Dresden, as Dresden possesses cutting-edge expertise in this field through its Cluster of Excellence.
Numerous leading Taiwanese media outlets—including the Taipei Times, Taiwan News, and the state-run news agency CNA—reported extensively on the visit. In particular, the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Dresden and Taipei was hailed as a strategic milestone for European-Asian cooperation. Dresden was portrayed as the center of “Silicon Saxony” and a key partner in Taiwan’s global semiconductor strategy. The Taiwanese media viewed the Dresden delegation’s trip as an important step toward securing the long-term economic and technological axis between Saxony and Taiwan.