The 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G-ACIA), the world's largest 5G industrial alliance, held its annual General Assembly in Taiwan for the first time, drawing participation from industry heavyweights such as Bosch, Ericsson, Mitsubishi Electric, Nokia, Qualcomm, and Siemens. The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) facilitated the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between 5G-ACIA and the Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards (TAICS), aligning Taiwanese manufacturers with global 5G Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) standards.

"ITRI has been actively working on the R&D of 5G and B5G technologies for industrial upgrading, and this year our commitment extended beyond that," said Pang-An Ting, General Director of ITRI's Information and Communications Research Laboratories. "As a world-class think tank with global connections, ITRI facilitated the 5G-ACIA General Assembly to take place in Taiwan and promote global standards for 5G smart manufacturing through the collaboration between 5G-ACIA and TAICS. Bringing together leading telecommunications players is advantageous for Taiwan to access the global supply chain and market," said Ting.

Jyuo-Min Shyu, Chairman of TAICS, highlighted, "5G-ACIA aggregates worldwide needs and regulations for 5G IIoT technologies, while TAICS focuses on local IoT technology and industrial standards. This collaboration enables us to exchange technical documents, industrial standards, and current developments in 5G smart manufacturing. It also empowers us to expedite Taiwan's industrial products entering the global supply chain as we compete for 5G/6G communication standards set by 3GPP, the international organization dedicated to developing the next generation of global communications specifications."

Bosch's Dr. Andreas Mueller, General Chair of 5G-ACIA, noted, "Building on 5G-ACIA's leading role in globally driving and shaping Industrial 5G, our collaboration with TAICS signifies another crucial step in taking Industrial 5G from theory to practice. Together, we are committed to creating a vibrant ecosystem that drives innovation and sets a new benchmark for wireless connectivity in the industrial domain. This marks an exciting phase in our journey with a bright future ahead, as we pave the way for the practical implementation of Industrial 5G solutions in Taiwan and around the globe."

The Industrial 5G Day by 5G-ACIA was also held at the venue, showcasing 32 cutting-edge technologies and applications for 5G smart factories from leading companies and institutions such as Qualcomm (along with Advantech, Smart Tag and Avilon), Ericsson, Nokia, NXP, Keysight, Rohde & Schwarz, Litepoint, Pegatron, Compal, Lite-on, Moxa, Askey, Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT), Hwacom, Jorjin, Sercomm, Ataya, Inventec, Lions, CTOne, Telecom Technology Center (TTC),Tangram, O'Prueba, and Saviah.