Welcome Message - TGEO  Honorary President

Distinguished Guests, Ladies, and Gentlemen:

It is my great honor to welcome you all to attend the Eighth International Conference on Earth Observations and Social Impacts (ICEO&SI) as a Founder and Honorary President of Taiwan Group on Earth Observations (TGEO). The Conference is annually held with joint efforts between a prestigious university in Taiwan and TGEO. This year, the University is Minghsin University of Science and Technology (MUST). The conference would not have been successfully carried out without the selfless dedication and devotion of all the people who work hard together and arrange the numerous details. My most sincere thanks go to MUST for their awesome preparation of the programs, sessions, venue, and joyful activities.

TGEO aims to promote international cooperation and exchange. In 2010, it was established in 2010 along with a kick-off meeting, Workshop on Earth Observations. In 2011, the first ICEO&SI was held. Since then, the ICEO&SI has become an annual platform for gathering scientists to resolve the global threats that human beings are facing nowadays. In 2014-2015, TGEO proposed to form an international association with GISA of Japan and KAGIS of Korea to share advancements in the fields of Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System, Global Navigation Satellite Systems, …etc. In 2016, the International Association of Geo-informatics (IAG’i) was officially formed by the three countries, and its first annual assembly was held by GISA in Japan. In 2018, the third assembly of the IAG’i will be concurrently held with ICEO&SI. In addition, the International Conference on Earth Observations and Nature Hazards (ICEO&NH), a sister conference of ICEO&SI, was started in 2017 after its kick-off meeting held in 2016. The ICEO&NH is hosted by IG, VAST (Institute of Geography - Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology), and co-hosted by TGEO, and other public and private units, and is expected to become another platform for international exchange.

Up to this time, more than 1200 academics, researchers, engineers and students from over 22 countries of 4 continents had fruitful and pleasant experiences at the previous ICEO&SI conferences. Also, more than 608 papers (349 oral papers and 259 posters) and 30 keynote speeches have been delivered with many of them published in the special issues of prestigious journals, including Remote Sensing, Atmospheric Research, and TAO. The ICEO&SI 2018 will inherit the heritage to provide all participants an excellent stage of an international symposium.

Last but not least, as Founder of TGEO and ICEO&SI, my sincere appreciation belongs to every organizer and all the people who contribute efforts to this conference. I wish all of you a delightful stay in Hsinchu County, the most well-known High-Technology Zone of Taiwan, and rich memories of the ICEO&SI 2018. Look forward to welcome you all in ICEO&SI 2018.

Yuei-An Liou

Distinguished Professor & Academician, National Central University

Founder & Honorary President, TGEO

Honorary President, Vietnamese Experts Association in Taiwan

Member, IAA; Foreign Member, RAS