Construction crews have begun removing underground foundation piles left from the former Zihciang Overpass in Fongshan District, as work continues on the Kaohsiung MRT Yellow Line. The city said crews will use casing equipment to cut and pull out the old piles, a method intended to reduce noise, vibration, and dust.

The material was a piece of wood retained from the construction of a ceremonial boat for the Donggang Donglong Temple (東港東隆宮) Wangye Welcoming Festival, also known as the King Boat Festival. It was sent into orbit through the “Milky Way Watch” (天河守望) project, a collaboration between the Pingtung County Government and National Central University (國立中央大學).

The event is scheduled for July 24 at InterContinental Kaohsiung (高雄洲際酒店), according to the Taiwan Startup World Cup website. Organizers said the Kaohsiung event is part of a broader initiative to connect southern Taiwan’s startup teams with international investors, business leaders, accelerators, and entrepreneurship networks.

Both camp groups will gather Aug. 16 at the Asia Drone AI Innovation Application R&D Center (亞洲無人機AI創新應用研發中心) in Puzi City (朴子市) for a final competition and presentation day.

Speaking in Pingtung, President Lai Ching-te said the central government would continue working on water, electricity, land and talent policies to support industry…as well as measures to attract international talent.

Ciaotou District (橋頭區) recorded the city’s fastest household-density growth, reaching 747 households per square kilometer, up about 11.2% over the past three years.

The county government said illegal operators have used methods including blacking out license plates, covering waste with clean soil, and falsifying documents to disguise dumping. Pingtung County Magistrate Chou Chun-mi (周春米) said the bureau has introduced an AI recognition system this year to improve monitoring in remote dumping hot spots. The county has installed 50 AI surveillance cameras at 25 high-risk locations, allowing the system to automatically flag suspicious vehicles or dumping behavior around the clock.

The Xinflow Surfing Park (芯浪滑板衝浪水公園), will feature what the company describes as Taiwan’s first urban surf-skate attraction using wave-simulation technology.

The group said self-driving vehicles are unlikely to replace a city’s main public transportation network, but could improve first- and last-mile connections. It said city agencies would need to coordinate over the next two years on how robotaxis could serve major transit and tourism hubs, including the airport, harbor, rail stations, and visitor destinations.

Huang said that Taiwan admittedly faces challenges like energy pressure and land pressure. However, the capabilities and experience it has accumulated in advanced manufacturing remain incredibly difficult for any other region to replicate. Even as the world actively pushes for supply chain diversification and a broader dispersion of manufacturing plants, Taiwan retains an irreplaceable advantage in terms of manufacturing excellence, talent density, and a complete industrial ecosystem required by the AI industry.