 Hello everyone, and welcome to the Night of Ideas, the New Year's Day. Tonight, with this video, I would like to invite you to join me and to join thousands of people from all over the world to open up our minds and to talk about the ideas behind the main issues that we're facing in our time. With years of good practice, The Night of Ideas has become a signature event that features sort-provoking programs for debates, performances, and screenings that help participants to speak up and think beyond our imagination. And this year, The Night of Ideas focused on the theme, Facing Our Time, and will be held in a hundred cities around the world, including Asian cities such as Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Jakarta. In all days, through radio and television, one person can speak to millions of people. But nowadays, for the first time, we can listen to millions of people through the internet. Democracy has since transformed into a new shape that perhaps no one yet has the ability to describe it with a whole picture. So therefore, this year in Taipei, with The Night of Ideas, we will go a step further. We will talk about how to face the waves of digital transformation and to explore how to protect the free and open internet while upholding democracy. As Taiwan's digital minister, I embrace open government, social innovation, and youth participation making rooms for listening at scale. For us, digital technology is just a means to an end, and the end is to create social spaces and social objects, which enables people to better communicate with one another and be willing to respect the pluralities and also be curious enough to come to The Night of Ideas. And by spending the night together, I encourage you to share your feelings, share your doubts, share your reflections and ideas about the issues that concerns you or interests you in this digital area. By speaking up, every one of us could become the makers of digital democracy in the 21st century. Cheers for independent minds, for honest dialogues, and the future of democracy. Thank you, and I hope you all have a pleasant and inspiring evening ahead.