AICT Achieves National Development

Written by Peter Li-Chang Kuo

Foreword

On February 26, 2010, former President Lee Teng-Hui invited us to Tsui-Shan Villa to understand the achievements of our proposal, “Global Channel – TES,” presented at the APEC CEO Summit in Singapore. After listening to the explanation by Linda Din (Ding Lin-Hong), known as the “Mother of E-Commerce,” he remarked, “This is a major reform in finance and technology.” When asked about the output value of the intelligent industry "TES" for golden net, Din replied, “10 trillion US dollars.” Former President Lee believed that Taiwan could become one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Fig 1: Reporting TES to Former President Lee Teng-Hui

As the global financial crisis saw economies injecting approximately 1.9 trillion US dollars annually—like pouring into an abyss — I was invited by leaders of two countries to contribute the way of “Rebuilding the Global Economy” at APEC CEO Summit 2009 in Singapore.

Fig 2: Invited to contribute solutions for rebuilding the global economy

During the APEC meeting in Singapore, I again referred to a series of Social Responsibility Investment (SRI) seminars held in Silicon Valley. As reported by the "World Journal" (Bay Area edition) on April 3, 2008 — “Kuo Li-Chang to host SRI seminar on the 5th”— this initiative, launched on the eve of the financial crisis, represented a forward-looking economic reconstruction proposal intended to prevent the impending catastrophe.

Fig 3: World Journal (Silicon Valley) coverage

In April 2008, before the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis escalated into a global financial tsunami, I conducted a series of SRI seminar across Silicon Valley and Taiwan. I proposed issuing 1.7 billion TranSmart Cards and establishing an "85 billion US dollar SRI fund." By integrating cross-border e-commerce —“Global Channel-TES,” “eStore,” “TranSmart Supply Chain Management (TSCM),” Cashless Transactions, and SRI — we aimed to build a sustainable entrepreneurship and employment mechanism. This would accelerate the free movement of talent, capital, and goods within the real economy, stimulate consumption and logistics cycles, and serve as a reconstruction solution to the global financial crisis.

At the time, the World Journal reported: “Kuo Li-Chang explained to American society in Silicon Valley that innovative industries and Social Responsibility Investment are key pathways to resolving unemployment and promoting economic recovery.” The concept was also promoted at the APEC Leaders’ Meeting.

During the 2009 APEC CEO Summit, I was arranged to stay on the 25th floor of the Fairmont Hotel in Singapore, where I engaged with the U.S. delegation on feasible strategies for “Rebuilding the Global Economy.” I reiterated the SRI fund and TES framework proposed in 2008, advocating the integration of TranSmart Electronic-payment System with a new tech-economic system to establish a global mechanism for entrepreneurship, employment, and cashless transaction commercial mechanism (ComMec) —“earning global income from home.” This instrumental solution for economic stimulus received broad recognition and acceptance.

Fig 4: Proposal of the Seven Centers between Taiwan and the U.S.

I prepared color brochures and the “IIA-TES” booklet to explain to U.S. representatives the “Seven Centers between Taiwan and the U.S.” (Fig 5): Taiwan would take responsibility for manufacturing, supply chain, and "ICT" center, while the United States would oversee legal framework, finance, human resource, and logistics center. In 2009, this division-of-labor diagram shocked senior U.S. officials as a “global economic reconstruction blueprint.” It elevated Taiwan from a “negligible contract manufacturer” to a strategic engine on par with the “world’s largest economy” (the United States). By strategically binding Taiwan’s technological strengths with the U.S. domestic market, legal, and financial systems, this framework has had a profound and lasting impact on the integration of Taiwan-U.S. geopolitics and technology supply chains.

"ICT" (Information and Communication Technology) adds "C" (Communication) to "IT" (Information Technology). It covers key components, computer hardware, software, satellite, Internet communication, and audio-video equipment. It is mainly used for transmission, data processing, storage, and sharing of digital information. It was a key initiative proposed by Linda Din at APEC 2000 in Brunei. ICT has made the dream of "Global Channel-TES" a reality.

CEPD Briefing

After returning to Taiwan, on February 11, 2010, the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) invited us to present the importance of the APEC Best Practice “Global Channel-TES” for national development.

Fig 5: CEPD briefing record

The meeting, titled “Overview of Panhornic Company’s ‘Global Channel-TES’ Project,” was held on Thursday, February 11, 2010, at 6:00 PM in Conference Room 619 of the CEPD. The session was chaired by Vice Chairman Huang Wan-Hsiang. Attendees included Legislator Huang Yi-Chiao; Fan Liang-Dong, Executive Secretary of the Investment Commission, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA); Chang Ke-Cheng, Division Chief; Yang Chung-Tsang, Senior Specialist of the Department of Commerce; Linda Din, President of Panhornic ComMec Holding Co., Ltd. (UK); Kuo Li-Chang, General Manager (presenter); Dean Hsu Chiang and Director Chang Ching-Hsiang of Chang Jung Christian University; Huang Derui, Chairman of the Taiwan Industry Technology Promotion Association; and former Control Yuan member Lin Chiang-Tsai.

As usual, I distributed color brochures and booklets to attendees and presented two books: " A Lady of Rich Taiwan " (The Daughter of a Defense Employee) (Linda Din, 2001: 356–369), discussing the importance of ICT and eStore systems and the invention of TES leading to the establishment of APEC legal frameworks; and "Open the Way for Next Generation" (Kuo Li-Chang, 2008: 271), explaining why we were capable of completing the foundational invention— "TES" —to help vulnerable groups overcome time (t) and space (s) constraints and earn global income from home. Both books addressed “structural social issues” and the “intelligent industry,” which former President Lee considered key to Taiwan’s long-term sustainability.

Fig 6: Two books presented for reference

On April 29, 2010, the Executive Yuan approved the “Cloud Computing Industry Development Program,” after which the government adopted cloud computing as the central axis of "ICT" development. With the widespread commercialization of smart mobile communication devices, Taiwan experienced 15 years of prosperity.

The Expectation of former President Lee Teng-Hui

In June 2010, former President Lee unexpectedly notified Linda Din to deliver a lecture on June 19 at the Leadership Development Program: “Using TES to increase per capita income by 10,000 US dollars.”

Fig 7: Linda Din presenting on TES-driven income growth

In her lecture, Din explained that through an ocean-oriented economic model— “keeping control centers in Taiwan while globalizing commerce and logistics flows” — and activating “dual financial engines,” Taiwan could integrate efficient industrial chains with global channel deployment to form an intelligent business mechanism. This approach would not only support the United States but also create strategic advantages for Taiwan’s industries. By implementing “technologization of traditional industries and intelligentization of technology industries,” this model would function as a powerful engine for industrial upgrading, steadily increasing national income and reducing unemployment.

After Linda Din finished her presentation, former President Lee Teng-Hui suddenly stood up from his chair, turned around, and wrote on the whiteboard: “10 trillion USD ÷ 23 million people = 430,000 USD per capita.” He then stated that TES possesses a complete industrial chain encompassing “innovation, manufacturing, and market access.” By controlling both upstream innovation and downstream markets, it is no longer constrained by manufacturing costs and can create a "seamless global channel.” As illustrated in Fig 8 through social network analysis (SNA), TES transforms the traditional relationship between consumers and enterprises, triggering four major revolutions in “currency, industry, distribution channels, and employment,” thereby unleashing limitless business opportunities and generating derivative value chains.

Fig 8: An intelligent industry benefiting all participants (SNA)

TES does not rely on ships or airplanes to transport goods; instead, it upgrades stores worldwide into electronic stores (eStores), with an operational control center that enables financial flows and information flows to return to Taiwan — thus earning revenue globally. Crucially, Taiwan can transition from an island-based economy to an ocean-oriented economy, becoming “the center of the Maritime Century.”

Fig 9: Taiwan is the Center of Maritime Century

Former President Lee specifically explained to the audience: “The concept that ‘Taiwan is the center of the Maritime Century’ was formally presented by Ms. Ding during her lecture at APEC in 1998, where she projected slides for over ten minutes.” The purpose was to demonstrate that TES prioritizes public interest as a fully self-sustaining, cross-border economic cooperation infrastructure project capable of generating and sharing substantial benefits across regional economies. Through overcoming multiple challenges, the initiative led to the establishment of the “E-Commerce Constitution” at APEC in 1998. This is why Linda Din is known as the “Mother of E-Commerce.” He regarded this as a major victory for the nation on the international stage and encouraged everyone to embrace such ambition and expand their horizons.

Fig 10: A major victory at APEC 1998

Former President Lee also mentioned his regret over being unable to attend the 1994 Bogor APEC Leaders’ Meeting in Indonesia at the invitation of President Suharto. He remarked: “Fortunately, Taiwan has private-sector figures like Linda Din, who continuously create opportunities for Taiwan at APEC.” He further emphasized: “Policies we helped establish at APEC as ‘Best Practices’ (Fig 11) are later adopted by the OECD, becoming global international standards.”

Fig 11: APEC Best Practice Award in 2003

He then explained the origin of the “USD 10 trillion” figure: “In 2003, Ms. Ding proposed the Linhorn’s Indicator at APEC: 'A=C/GDP=0.36,' representing a ‘Possible Trinity’— a triple-win for people, enterprises, and governments. At that time, APEC’s total GDP was 28 trillion USD, and 0.36 corresponds to 10 trillion USD.” The APEC Joint Ministerial Statement, Article 7, noted that this could help 240 million people start businesses.

Former President Lee added: “After Ms. Ding proposed the ‘ICT Initiative’ at APEC 2000 in Brunei, it became part of the ‘Brunei Goals.’ We must pay attention to ICT development, as it will transform TES into a living techno-economic system, bringing substantial benefits to Taiwan.”

Today, although his words still resonate, former President Lee passed away in 2020. At a meeting on June 24 this year, experts pointed out that during the year the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, TES-driven “Cashless transaction” (C) surged to "USD 36 trillion" — validating the Linhorn's Indicator. However, within just a few years, by 2025 it had escalated to "C≧200 trillion USD," resembling a runaway train that requires braking systems and governance platform.

AICT Initiative

Therefore, the virtual-real integrated system “Global Channel-TES,” long advocated by “KSI” (K-Horn Science Inc.), requires upgrading its decision-making core—the “ICT Control Center”—into an “AICT Control Center.” Centered on satellite communications and “TranSmart Supply Chain Management” (TSCM), its underlying design logic, data flows, and dynamic control mechanisms had already anticipated and laid the foundation for the core backbone of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in AIoT and real-economy applications — namely the “eStore,” deployed across 90 million square kilometers of land for commercial use.

Fig 12: AICT Control Center

The “AICT Initiative” aims to address the current global surge in non-cash transactions "C≧200 trillion USD" by collaborating with global experts from industry, academia, and research institutions to establish a safety braking system for the digital economy — the “AICT Control Center.” This forms a foundational symbiotic system that tightly integrates human-centered values with technological productivity. The “AICT Club” represents the first step toward unlocking century-scale business opportunities.

The “AICT Club” (AC) is not a social club, but a platform for commercial linkage to universal businesses worldwide, serving as a preparatory foundation for establishing the “AICT Academy” (AA).

Teaching Plans

When Linda Din first brought her TES invention to the 1997 Vancouver APEC, she ignited hope for countries affected by the Asian Financial Crisis and was invited to join the "International Advisory Expert Group." We proposed establishing an “EI” (Economic Institute) and compiled ten core training modules, including: consulting skills, financial analysis, human resource management, interpersonal skills, business planning (BP), professional conduct and code of ethics, marketing, problem-solving and decision-making I, government regulations and legal requirements, problem-solving and decision-making II, and e-commerce.

At that time, as a board member of the ROC Association of Management Consultants, Linda Din planned to train seed consultants, working with university incubators to assist in upgrading traditional industries through technology. The eleventh module, “E-Commerce,” which we were responsible for, was later incorporated into Chapter 3 of "A Lady of Rich Taiwan" (The Daughter of a Defense Employee), covering training programs, professional certification, and consultant development systems.

Because Chapter 3 of "A Lady of Rich Taiwan" preserves the original framework and inherits the talent development philosophy advocated in the 1997 APEC “E-Commerce” curriculum, the AA has designed a historically continuous “AICT Academy Curriculum” (AAC). This framework includes ten core modules: (1) Introduction to AICT; (2) Evolution of the Intelligent Economy and E-Commerce; (3) AICT Governance and Code of Ethics; (4) AICT Control Center; (5) TES and CPS Analysis; (6) TranSmart Supply Chain and Logistics Management; (7) Digital Payments and the Cashless Economy; (8) Intellectual Property Enforcement; (9) AICT Platform Economy; and (10) AICT Capstone Project. This curriculum forms a clear historical continuity with APEC’s talent development philosophy and enables AA to become a comprehensive and sustainable system for education, research, and professional certification.

We invented TES 40 years ago, in 1986, to solve structural social problems — unemployment and robbery. TES helps vulnerable groups overcome the constraints of time and space, and at APEC it was called a “Total Economic Solution.” It adopted the TES-startup system based on the long chain of inventions centered on the “Transmart Power Chip” (TPC) — such as the power chip, contactless induction technology, cashless transaction system, Transmart chip card and its reading device (RF Transmitter), VAM & eStore, TSCM, ICT, control center, interphone, contactless ATM, contactless entry security device (ESD), and electronic toll collection device (ETC) — to provide a safer and more convenient life and usher in a new tech-economic era.

Fig 13: Application Scope of the TranSmart Power Chip

In 2006, after securing “satellite support” at the APEC CEO Summit, we went to the United States to promote installation in stores of the “TRD” shown in the upper-right of the figure, also known as the "Toller" — that is, the cashless reading device that reached “200 trillion US dollars” in 2025. At the same time, in Silicon Valley, we promoted the upper-right “C-Phone” as a smart mobile communications device, implementing the development schedule of the digital economy, reversing Silicon Valley’s fate after the failure of “virtual networks” (.com) and PDAs, and ushering in the spring of the new tech-economic system.

Fig 14: APEC CEO Summit 2006 for “Satellite Support”

After the 2008 series of Social Responsibility Investment (SRI) seminars held in Silicon Valley, California, and Taiwan, TES was confirmed at APEC CEO Summit 2009 as an “Instrumental Solution” for survival and recovery after the financial tsunami. In 2010, following the “Global Channel–TES” briefing invited by the CEPD (Council for Economic Planning and Development", and then former President Lee’s repeated invitations, the Leadership Training Program confirmed the national development target of “USD 10 trillion.” The “ICT Initiative” (Brunei Goals) is a key element of the TES system and has become a mainstream trend in Taiwan’s economic development over the past 17 years.

AICT Alignment with Policies

The record of the February 11, 2010 briefing in Conference Room 619 of the CEPD is conclusive evidence of our decades-long efforts for national digital sovereignty, and also a highly significant historical and legal document. After 16 years of evolution, the “ICT Initiative” has also evolved into the “AICT Club Fund.” “Club” does not mean a social club, but a platform of "commercial link to the universal businesses," and it intersects with the National Development Council’s current “New Ten Major AI Infrastructure Projects” in the following ways:

1. A leap in the level of thinking (from “I can’t understand it” to “policy pain points”):

In 1986, Linda Din, the Mother of E-Commerce invented TES in order to solve structural social problems — unemployment and robbery. After in-depth study, I found that “its Transmart electronic transaction volume was astronomical,” and regarded it as a matter of national importance. I therefore advised President Chiang Ching-Kuo, who instructed me to explain it to Mr. Chao Yao-Tung, Chairman of the CEPD. However, Chairman Chao said he could not understand it. After 23 years of effort, “TES” has helped bring about many international acts and policy frameworks, including the e-commerce constitution, micro-enterprises, ICT, IPR, best practices, and satellite support consensus. Therefore, the February 11, 2010 meeting of the CEPD established the broad direction for Taiwan’s cloud computing industry development.

2. A transformation opportunity in national strategy:

Now, in 2026, the government is promoting the “New Ten Major AI Infrastructure Projects,” including: 1) a trillion-dollar software platform industry; 2) industrial application in one million enterprises; 3) a smart living circle for all; 4) global leadership in silicon photonics; 5) entry into the leading group in quantum computing; 6) development of smart robotics technology; 7) sovereign AI and computing power; 8) 500,000 talents and hundreds of billions in funding; 9) smart government and data governance; and 10) balanced regional AI development. The goals are to “create trillion-dollar output from software platforms by 2040” and “upgrade one million enterprises.” The country already has policy support, and the intellectually property-based underlying architecture of the internationally validated “Global Channel-TES” (as reflected in the APEC formal proposal background), together with the TSCM academic appraisal report evidencing “USD 23.4 billion,” provides the tailwind needed to advance policy.

Fig 15: Appraisal Report and TSCM Achievements

3. TSCM’s Prophetic Measures:

Among TES’s most resource-intensive components, "TSCM" had already, in 1999, identified an astronomically large future market. It then decided to spend an "additional NTD 525,200" to pass strict review — mainly because public understanding was limited at the time — and, under the title Development of an Information System for Supply Chain Management in an Electronic Sales System (abbreviated as TSCM — Transmart Supply Chain Management), it was included on page 132 of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ state-owned-enterprise compilation Collection of "SBIR Achievements 1998–1999" (contract no. P189028), with the national system “registering it as IP historical evidence.” Looking back today, there were “five prophetic actions” at the time: 1) predicting the “virtual-real integration” control architecture of the modern Internet of Things (AIoT); 2) laying the foundation for modern fintech; 3) pioneering “big-data real-time supply chain” management (Real-time TSCM); 4) precisely estimating the expansion trajectory of a trillion-scale world market (projected output value); and 5) practicing “technology-based poverty alleviation” and Social Responsibility Investment (SRI).

In 2002, an "IPR Appraisal Report" was commissioned from "National Taichung Institute of Technology." Professor Bor-Liang Chen, a mathematics and cryptography expert on the appraisal team, said they had calculated an “astronomical figure.” In fact, as early as 1986, when I helped Linda Din interpret her TES schematic, I had already calculated an astronomical figure using Laplace’s "Second Shifting Theorem" and "Final Value Theorem" — that was the real reason I, having been called by Chiang Ching-Kuo the “father of Taiwan’s precision industry,” was interested in helping her complete TES.

Fig 16: TES System Architecture Diagram

Because we were in the barbaric time of digital econonmy, our team deliberately kept the valuation as low as possible so as not to frighten the audience. In the end, the team noted: “This appraisal report does not include the value of issuing TranSmart card.” The conclusion was forced down to "USD 23.4 billion" (as shown in Fig 15). Based on due diligence of the actual TES system, Merrill Lynch, together with this appraisal report, proposed a valuation of "USD 250 per share."

4. Feasibility of connecting the “AICT Club Fund” (PFI) with trillion-dollar investment PPP initiative

The National Development Council is currently strongly promoting a “trillion-dollar national investment and development program,” whose core purpose is to guide insurance capital and private capital into major public and digital infrastructure projects through a “public-private partnership” (PPP) model. The “AICT Club Fund” takes as its compliant underlying asset the “USD 23.4 billion” real-world asset (RWA) valuation conclusion from National Taichung Institute of Technology, and is positioned as a “Private-Finance Initiative" (PFI) fund for a global business linkage open-source platform. It raises private membership fees through the AICT Club — “USD10,000 for individuals and USD50,000 for legal entities” — as private matching funds, to pair with the National Development Council’s equivalent equity investment application under the trillion-dollar program. Strategic investment by the National Development Fund or startup transformation subsidies are both welcome.

Fig 17: The Benefits of “AICT Club” Members

The five core benefits for founding members of the “AICT Club” are aligned as follows: “1) priority access to technical forums and research information (linked to the National Science and Technology Council’s AI R&D); 2) the right to participate in ecosystem governance and international industry initiatives (linked to APEC economic and trade diplomacy); 3) the right to cooperate in cross-border physical-digital integration platforms (linked to the Ministry of Digital Affairs’ digital infrastructure); 4) the right to business cooperation and priority contracting within the ecosystem (linked to the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ industrial upgrading efforts); and 5) future capital cooperation and priority subscription rights (linked to the National Development Fund and private capital).”

Under current regulations, the National Development Fund has established the “Implementation Program for Strengthening Investment in Strategic Service Industries” and a mechanism for guiding major public infrastructure projects. Today, by opening all technologies through the “AICT Club” and promoting an operating model based on a “global business cooperation platform” and a “professional research graduate think tank with legal and financial actuarial analysis,” intellectual property rights are elevated to the level of "WIPO" and "TRIPS" international regulations. In effect, under the umbrella of the National Development Fund’s public-private partnership framework, this builds a transnational legal and political protective wall that prevents cartel forces from using physical or financial means to interfere for non-economic reasons, thereby achieving law enforcement objectives.

5. Achieving the goal of a "Rich Taiwan 2040" :

In 1986, we witnessed Mattel shut down its Taiwan factory (MLT), leaving 5,000 people unemployed. In response, we advocated a “Rich Taiwan Plan,” founded social enterprises, promoted Social Responsibility Investment (SRI), and invented "The Electronic Store System" (TES), hoping to help vulnerable groups overcome the constraints of time (t) and space (s). After 12 years of effort, we stood on the APEC podium in 1998 discussing how to “Steering the Global E-Commerce” and open a path for the world. Today, in 2026, the question is how to “Steer the Physical AI Economy.” The AICT platform is precisely this control hub; the two complement each other and will rise like a soaring eagle, creating NT$15 trillion in output for Taiwan before 2040, with highly promising results.

Fig 18: Rich Taiwan Plan

Conclusion

TES is a gift bestowed on Taiwan by divine grace, with Linda Din serving merely as its vessel — a “Prophet.” Since childhood, LInda Din heard her grandmother, the venerable Shichuanzhi (Master TranSmart), recite the "Diamond Sutra," and thus developed a strong sense of the relationship between the "virtual and the real." Therefore, the invention of TES in 1986 was a system of virtual-real integration. By choosing the contactless Transmart chip card as the transaction tool, it became possible to break through the constraints of time and space (t-e-s). Upgrading “ATM + vending machine” into "VAM and eStore" was like laying Laplace’s star-dust map across 90 million square kilometers of land: "the more people it helps, the greater the system’s benefits." Ultimately, this achieves the possible trinity of a triple-win society among “people, enterprises, and government.” Linda Din reads the Bible once every year because former President Lee Teng-Hui read the Bible as well and was widely learned. He not only understood TES, but also spent a year guiding Linda Din’s thesis at Chung Yuan Christian University Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, titled "Lee Teng-Hui’s Christian Faith and Democratic Practice," encouraging us to continue opening paths for Taiwan. Now, as we enter the age of the AI economy, the application environment for the “AICT Initiative” from ICT upgrade is taking increasingly shape. In Creating a Path for the Next Generation, I wrote extensively about transcending time and space— people working from home to earn money from around the world, which is, in Laplace terms, “t→∞, s→0.” In TES, this is used to precisely prove that “when the number of people helping approaches infinity, the ecosystem’s total output will not bubble up; instead, it converges to a vast astronomical steady-state output”—that is, “A=C/GDP=0.36” (in 2003, this was 10 trillion US dollars; in 2020, it was USD 36). In fact, this contains many theological meanings and, at the intersection of science and faith, reveals a profound significance of “theology and cosmic order.” It has already gone far beyond neoclassical economics and entered the realm of “the Creator’s incentive mechanism.” The theological essence of TES is: “people work from home and earn money from around the world,” and “the more people you help, the more you earn.” Theologically, this is “infinite grace and abundant promise.” It is completely different from traditional economics, which is founded on “limited resources and unlimited desires,” producing scarcity, plunder, and zero-sum outcomes. Yet the mathematical model of "TES" demonstrates the opposite: “the more you give, the more abundant it becomes.” This is structurally identical to the Bible’s “five loaves and two fish,” which fed five thousand people and left twelve baskets of fragments — an example of non-zero-sum grace. Following the direction encouraged by former President Lee, a Rich Taiwan by 2040 is absolutely achievable.

Peter Li-Chang Kuo, the author created Taiwan's Precision Industry in his early years. Peter was a representative of the APEC CEO Summit and an expert in the third sector. He advocated "anti-corruption (AC)/cashless/e-commerce (E-Com)/ICT/IPR/IIA-TES / Micro-Business (MB)…and etc." to win the international bills and regulations.