Interview
Audrey Tang – Taiwan’s Digital Minister and Her Vital…
We have a fascinating episode this week with our guest, Taiwan’s remarkable Digital Minister, Audrey Tang.
Audrey became the youngest Government Minister ever in Taiwan when she was appointed a few years ago at the age of 35. She is also the world’s first ever Transgender government Minister.
Audrey’s childhood was anything but conventional, in her early years she was something of a child prodigy who also had a serious heart condition. She dropped out of school at the age of 14 to manage her own education and at the age of 16 started her first successful software business.
Fast forward in time, and after some years working in Silicon Valley and further success, Audrey found herself moving from being a Government activist in her home country to a Government Minister!
In this episode you’ll hear:
- How Audrey’s quick involvement in creating a valuable app has played a key role in Taiwan’s extraordinarily successful management of Covid-19, with the country never having to stop working
- How her heart condition as a child means that to this day Audrey does not experience anger or upset or extreme joy
- How in Taiwan, thanks to calling software coders Programme Designers vs Software Engineers, there are significantly more women than men working in the field
- And her unique ways of seeing arguments from both sides
Enjoy this discussion with the remarkable Audrey Tang.
Useful Links
Taiwan Can Help Us – a COVID-19 initiative from Taiwan to help other countries
CoHack – a hackathon led by Audrey to use open data and technology to help fight the coronavirus pandemic across the world
G0V – a decentralised civic tech community from Taiwan