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Apex Lin, Pang-Soong Receives Special Jury Award from Asia Design Prize, Recognizing His Long-term Contributions to Asian Design
The Asia Design Prize, established in 2016, is a collaborative initiative between Japanese and Korean design communities aimed at discovering outstanding design works across Asia. The competition is organized by the Korean design media company “DESIGNSORI” and strives to create a world-class design award. Competition categories include Industrial Design, Space/Architecture Design, Communication Design, and Social Impact. In 2025, a total of 1,879 entries were received from 22 countries, with only 304 works selected as winners. This year’s jury consisted of 42 experts from different countries, with Dr. Kim Hyun-Sun, President of the Korean Federation of Design Associations, serving as the jury chair. The award ceremony was held on March 26 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, bringing together award recipients from around the world.
In 2024, ADP presented its first “Judge’s Choice” to Professor Kim Nando of Seoul National University in Korea, recognizing his dedication to advancing market consumer trend research. The 2025 ADP “Judge’s Choice” was presented to Apex Lin primarily to recognize his long-term artistic and design work featuring Taiwan’s island image. He has not only established a clear personal identification symbol but has also promoted Taiwan’s image globally, transcending design services for clients and markets to present deeper philosophical thinking. As this year’s jury chair, President Kim Hyun-Sun wrote in the award citation: “Design is not merely about form, but a creative act that can interpret trends of the times and pioneer the future… Professor Lin Pang-Soong’s design philosophy goes beyond simple visual expression to become a powerful medium for sharing cultural values and leading social change, presenting works that transcend eras with outstanding creativity and design insight. These achievements have not only created aesthetic value but have also established an identity for Asian design and made important contributions to elevating the status of Asian design in the global design field.”
In addition to his personal creative achievements, Apex Lin has long directed arts and design talent cultivation programs for Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. Among these, the “Taiwan International Design Strategy Initiative (IDC): Encouraging Students to Participate in International Art and Design Competitions” has, from 2006 to 2024, helped Taiwanese students win over 1,920 awards in global design competitions, including more than 300 bronze or higher-level awards, demonstrating Taiwan’s design strength on the global stage. Since 2014, he has consecutively organized the “Design Power from Asia” lecture and workshop series for 11 years, inviting over 70 distinguished designers from 20 countries to Taiwan to conduct international design forums and workshops. This provides Taiwanese teachers and students the opportunity to receive direct guidance from globally renowned designers, establishing a solid foundation for Taiwan’s design education and building bridges for design exchange between Taiwan and the world.
Since 2008, Apex Lin has directed the “TISDC Taiwan International Student Design Competition” for Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, with sponsorship from the iSee Taiwan Foundation and the Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation. Each year, the competition invites collaboration from 21 international design organizations across five continents, including WDO, Cumulus, BEDA, NY ADC, JDP, DBCS, and PADI, creating a design platform that offers fair competition and exposure opportunities for students worldwide. TISDC annually receives entries from over 60 countries and regions, representing more than 1,000 academic institutions, with approximately 20,000 submissions. It has become a collaborative platform for global design leaders to regularly visit Taiwan for in-depth design exchanges, evolving into a significant event in the Asian design community.
This prestigious “ADP Judge’s Choice” represents a significant milestone in recognizing Professor Lin’s lifetime of dedication to design. Beyond honoring his personal achievements, ADP acknowledges his pivotal role in elevating Taiwan’s design presence on the global stage and his enduring contributions to Asian design development. Through his visionary leadership and unwavering commitment, Lin has not only shaped Taiwan’s design landscape but has also inspired a new generation of designers across Asia, cementing his legacy as one of the region’s most influential design leaders.Hashtag: #AsiaDesignPrize #ADP
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The 7th Cross-Strait Financial Forum and Taiwan-Funded Enterprise Development Forum
This year’s forum is an important supporting event of the 18th Cross-Strait Forum. During the event, nine Fujian-Taiwan financial integration projects were signed, with a total value of RMB 9.1 billion. The projects cover a wide range of financial services across areas including cross-strait industrial cooperation, water supply security for public welfare, capacity upgrades for long-established Taiwan-funded enterprises, technology and innovation industries, and modern agriculture. These initiatives continue to unlock the benefits of financial policies, promote shared access to financial resources for Taiwan compatriots and Taiwan-funded enterprises, and inject new momentum into industrial integration between Fujian and Taiwan.
At the forum, the Cross-Strait Wealth and Asset Management Cross-Sector Alliance was officially inaugurated. Supported by Jinyuan Group and jointly proposed by its affiliated financial institutions, the alliance was co-founded by Xiamen International Trust, Jinyuan Uni-President Securities, Yuanxin Yongfeng Fund, Fubon Bank (China), Junlong Life Insurance, and Xiamen Chang Gung Hospital, among others. Centered on serving the wealth management and asset management needs of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the alliance aims to build a one-stop service platform covering asset allocation for Taiwan compatriots and Taiwan-funded enterprises on the mainland, family trusts and wealth succession planning, pension finance, and healthcare protection solutions.
The forum also unveiled a series of innovative financial achievements related to Taiwan. The banking industry’s first group standard dedicated to Taiwan-related financial services on the mainland, the “Specification for Taiwan-Related Financial Services of Banking Financial Institutions,” was officially released. At the same time, the “Bailufen” Taiwan Compatriot Financial Service Platform was introduced, further enhancing financial services for Taiwan compatriots living in Fujian and supporting the development of Taiwan-funded enterprises.
Hashtag: #StraitsFinancialForum
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Verdant Rock Receives BBB+ Long-Term Insurer Financial Strength Rating with a Stable Outlook from Fitch Ratings
“The infrastructure and capital markets we are targeting have been systematically underserved over the past decade. Verdant Rock enters this space with an investment grade rating, a strong capital position, the regulatory standing, the technical capability, and the long-term commitment that issuers and their advisers have been unable to find elsewhere.”
— Tolga Uzuner, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Verdant Rock Limited
The Fitch Ratings report can be accessed here:
Fitch Rates Verdant Rock at ‘BBB+’; Outlook Stable
Verdant Rock’s Class 3B registration can be verified via the BMA’s register of regulated entities (search “Verdant Rock”): https://www.bma.bm/regulated-entities
Notes to editors: For the May 2026 licensing announcement, see https://bernews.com/2026/05/walkers-supports-verdant-rock-licensing/
This announcement is (i) for information only; (ii) not an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security, insurance product, or financial guarantee; and (iii) not for distribution in any jurisdiction where to do so would be unlawful. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results, and Verdant Rock undertakes no obligation to update them. A credit rating is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security and may be subject to revision, suspension or withdrawal at any time by the assigning rating agency.
Hashtag: #VerdantRock
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
ABOUT VERDANT ROCK
Verdant Rock Limited is a Bermuda-based insurance company, regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, providing Basel III and Solvency II compliant financial guarantees in emerging markets, designed to qualify as eligible credit protection under Basel and major insurance solvency regimes, for the benefit of institutions globally.
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TVBS deploys AI translation for NVIDIA GTC Taipei keynote
Online viewers praised the translation quality, with comments including “The quality of this real-time translation is amazing,” “The translation is incredibly fast,” and “The live speech recognition quality is surprisingly good.” Some viewers assumed the subtitles came from NVIDIA’s official translation team.
The achievement demonstrates how Taiwan’s media industry is adapting to AI-driven transformation. TVBS is positioning itself as a leader in integrating proprietary AI development with real-world broadcast applications. The company completed optimization and deployment of the system in just nine days — a process that traditionally requires months of dedicated training, according to Andy Yang, manager of TVBS AI Future Technology Department.
Yang explained that the biggest challenge in real-time translation lies in balancing “content accuracy” with “reading fluency” under extremely tight time constraints. Huang’s speaking style is highly improvisational and frequently switches between English, Mandarin and Taiwanese, while audience applause and cheering often occur simultaneously.
Applying standard off-the-shelf translation software in such an environment would likely result in sentence segmentation errors and unclear semantic interpretation, Yang said. Rather than pursuing “zero-latency” translation at all costs, TVBS designed a subtitle presentation mechanism specifically tailored to the keynote format.
Prior to the event, the TVBS team conducted extensive cross-platform testing on multiple AI translation models, evaluating latency and error rates. By introducing a carefully calibrated broadcast delay, the system gained additional time to process semantic meaning and contextual alignment. This approach enabled smoother subtitles matching natural Chinese reading habits, Yang said.
The team also built a dedicated knowledge base for NVIDIA GTC Taipei, compiling AI industry terminology, product names and technical keywords in advance. This significantly improved translation quality and the accuracy of professional content delivery. TVBS’s real-time translation system can be customized based on different broadcasting scenarios, Yang noted.
Yang emphasized that the key to the rapid nine-day deployment was cross-department collaboration. Engineering teams handled hardware tuning and signal integration, while internal technical and content teams managed ongoing model training and refinement. TVBS established a collaborative workflow integrating both technology and editorial expertise.
Through continuous iteration and adjustment, the team incorporated Taiwanese linguistic nuances and natural Chinese phrasing into the system. This enhanced fluency and readability beyond what generic AI models alone could achieve, ultimately shaping what Yang called a distinct “TVBS AI style.” The approach reflects the company’s “3T” philosophy — Truth, Trust and Technology.
In his keynote at the Taipei Music Center, Huang focused on AI infrastructure, next-generation computing platforms and NVIDIA’s latest technological roadmap. GTC Taipei 2026 attracted significant international attention as AI continues to reshape global industries. Through its own transformation journey, TVBS hopes to help lead Taiwan’s media industry into a new era shaped by AI.
Hashtag: #TVBS
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