To strengthen bilateral scientific collaboration between Taiwan and Canada, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) co-hosted the Next Generation Frontiers Symposium, coordinated by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), from October 27 to 29 in Banff, Canada. NSTC Deputy Minister Bing-Yu Chen led a delegation of emerging interdisciplinary AI scholars to engage in in-depth exchanges with Canadian counterparts on AI technology, ethics, and policy.
In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister Chen emphasized that research exchanges among young scholars play a vital role in shaping future scientific development and fostering international collaboration. He noted that young researchers are the key drivers of innovation and expressed his hope that the close partnership with CIFAR would open new international pathways for Taiwan’s promising researchers and lead to impactful scientific outcomes.
Dr. Nipun Vats, Assistant Deputy Minister at Canada’s Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), delivered virtual remarks, highlighting that Canada and Taiwan have enjoyed over 27 years of scientific cooperation. He expressed hope that this symposium would inspire curiosity and exploration among young scholars from both countries, enabling them to jointly address the global challenges brought by AI.
Ms. Véronique Dault, Executive Director of Government and Public Sector Partnerships at CIFAR, also remarked that this was the first joint event between CIFAR and NSTC. She expressed her expectation that the symposium would bring together early-career researchers from both countries to exchange ideas on emerging AI issues and build long-term collaborative networks.
Dr. Kai-Shen Huang, Director of DSET’s Democracy and Governance Program, moderated the Sovereign AI session and noted that the panel examined a concept that remains unfinished and contested. Too much of the current debate frames it through security and control, often overshadowing underrepresented voices and public needs. After all, “sovereign AI” is a product of geopolitics, amplified by major corporations and national agendas.. Dr. Huang argued that Sovereign AI should be seen as a living framework, one that asks how democracies, especially smaller ones, can exercise both agency and innovation amid global asymmetry.
In the same session, DSET’s Non-Resident Fellow Yi-Xiang Sun shared insights from his ongoing project, “Rethinking AI Sovereignty through Talent Infrastructure: Skills, Education, and Mobility.” He argued that understanding Sovereign AI requires looking beyond chips and data centers to the systems that shape AI talent, including education, accreditation, and migration. Technical mastery matters, but so do the abilities to govern, design, and even question intelligent systems.. He encouraged Taiwan and Canada to rethink talent mobility policies to build open yet strategic ecosystems.
During the Responsible and Trustworthy AI session, DSET’s Non-Resident Fellow You-Hao Lai presented “The Authoritarian Gaze.” He emphasized that assessing AI’s impact on democracy demands studying not only how democracies build AI but also how authoritarian AI is quietly infiltrating democratic ecosystems. His analysis explains why China’s data governance should be viewed as authoritarian, investigates how the data practices of major Chinese AI services are entrenching this model globally, and offers policy recommendations to mitigate the democratic risks that arise.
At the Indigenous AI and Culture session, DSET’s Non-Resident Fellow Yun-Pu Tu presented “AI, Data, and Indigenous Futures in Taiwan,” exploring how technology can perpetuate digital colonialism when used without community consent. She stressed that AI development must remain community-led through dialogue and oversight. Taiwan, she noted, has yet to establish a national framework linking AI policy with Indigenous rights, and future efforts should ensure technological progress aligns with fairness and justice.
