Vice President of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) Zdeněk Havlas and representatives from various Czech research institutions visited Academia Sinica on September 3, the fourth day of the Czech delegation’s visit to Taiwan. Several cutting-edge topics were discussed, including sustainable energy, biomedical research, quantum computers, artificial intelligence, and COVID-19.

During the meeting, Academia Sinica President James Liao and Zdeněk Havlas had a lively discussion about methanol being a key factor in combatting climate change, based in part on President Liao’s recently-published Cell journal article, which explained the possibility of converting greenhouse gases into methanol in order to produce high-value chemicals. Both parties reached a consensus during the meeting, and are looking forward to collaborating on issues such as climate change and new energy applications in the future.

During the past five years, Academia Sinica has interacted frequently with the Czech Academy of Sciences. Since the establishment of the CAS Oriental Institute’s Research Center at the Institute of History and Philology in 2015, visiting researchers have strengthened cultural exchanges between Taiwan, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe. In 2018, Zdeněk Havlas attended Academia Sinica’s 90th Anniversary celebrations, and this year President Liao held an online meeting in March with CAS President Eva Zažímalová to discuss joint efforts in COVID-19 prevention.