Since 2018, Google has helped more than 270,000 people in Taiwan improve their digital skills. This year’s program is built around three key areas—”building foundational literacy,” “deepening professional capabilities,” and “driving innovation”—and expands its audience from students and professionals to creators and developers. In August this year, Google held Next GEM Camp, its first summer camp for high school students across Taiwan, giving students exposure to Google’s AI products and culture before they choose their university majors.
On the academic side, through Google.org funding, it is collaborating with National Taiwan University to advance AI researcher training and co-hosting the 2026 Taiwan AI Academic Forum with the NTU AI Center and the National Science and Technology Council, aiming to help 500 researchers improve their technical skills within this year. The forum has been held since 2018 and is now in its ninth edition, with more than 90 Google researchers having come to Taiwan to speak and over 3,000 attendees cumulatively. This year’s theme is the foundations of next-generation models, including efficiency, reasoning, and planning; from 2018 to 2023, the event was called AI BootCamp Innovation Research Camp, and only in 2024 was it changed to its current name.
There are also new approaches to job preparation. Google has partnered with colleges and universities and nonprofit organizations to provide free learning accounts for Google Professional Certificates on the Coursera platform; since the initiative launched in September, more than 30 colleges and universities have responded and have been activating accounts. Next, it will visit campuses such as the NTU Career Center to hold in-depth career conversations and discuss with soon-to-be graduates how to use AI to get a head start in the workplace.
Deepening Competencies: Workplace Professionals and the Public Sector
For youth job seeking, Google held an in-person Gemini workshop in July and worked with several student creators to produce social media short videos demonstrating how to use Gemini to dynamically revise resumes and simulate interviews; related posts and videos have accumulated more than one million views. On digital skills for all, the Digital Talent Exploration Program, launched in 2020, has helped more than 140,000 people improve their digital skills to date; this year, through a hybrid model of online self-learning plus live sessions by Google experts, it attracted nearly 40,000 participants, covering three areas: AI workplace literacy, digital marketing, and Google Cloud, with more than 90% of registered participants choosing the newly launched AI workplace literacy course this year. New cohorts will continue to be offered next year, remaining free and open.
The public sector is also on the list. In response to the government’s “AI for all trades and industriesThis year, Google helped more than ten government agencies and think tanks, including the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Judicial Yuan, run Gemini workshops as part of the policy. Hundreds of public-sector and think-tank staff participated, with content ranging from foundational literacy and safe, responsible AI use to improving administrative processes.
Driving Innovation: Agencies, Creators, Developers
Now in its tenth year, the Google Agency Training Program this year focuses on digital advertising agencies. Through group collaboration, it helps hundreds of professionals integrate tools such as Gemini, Skills, and Ads Advisor into their daily workflows. By the end of this year, more than 100 partners are expected to obtain annual certification, with efforts continuing in 2027. On the creator side, Google held three Gemini Creator Academies in northern, central, and southern Taiwan, attracting hundreds of local creators. The content ranged from responsible-use concepts for SynthID digital watermarking to using YouTube Ask Studio to develop video content plans.
The numbers on the developer side are the largest. This year’s Google Cloud OnBoard drew nearly 8,000 registrations and more than 4,200 actual attendees, covering Gemini Enterprise and enterprise-grade generative architecture, along with gamified hands-on Cloud Hero sessions; the Build with AI 2026 series helped over 2,200 developers activate Google Cloud accounts and get hands-on with the Gemini API. The upcoming DevFest 2026 is expected to bring together more than 1,500 developers through 6 major events across Taiwan to master the latest AI and agent development skills.
Summary
This annual roundup lays out Google’s talent development efforts in Taiwan as a complete pipeline: from high school camps to university certificates, workplace programs to public-sector workshops, and agency certifications to developer conferences. The 270,000 people represent the cumulative total over the past eight years, and this year’s new signals are in two areas: first, free Coursera Professional Certificate accounts have begun to be made available to colleges and universities; second, the AI Workplace Literacy course achieved a 90% take-up rate among enrolled learners in its first year. Next year these programs will launch new cohorts, and the 2027 agency and creator programs are already on the calendar. For readers preparing to change careers or still in school, two things they can do now are: apply to their school for a Coursera Professional Certificate account, and watch for registration timing for next year’s new cohort of the Digital Talent Exploration Program.
Source:Help Taiwan build future-ready AI talent.
Source: KOCPC Chinese