The world is at a pivotal moment of profound transformation. Artificial intelligence is reshaping industries, digital technology is accelerating business model innovation, geopolitics is reorganizing global supply chains, and ESG standards have become essential to corporate management. In this highly uncertain environment, a company’s ability to move forward depends not only on technology or market scale, but also on an intangible yet powerful asset: trust.

Trust is not an accessory to brand image; it reflects the quality of corporate governance. Amid AI adoption and digital transformation, even the most advanced innovations cannot create lasting value without transparency, data ethics, and accountability. Likewise, now that ESG has become a standard for global investment and supply-chain assessment, a company’s approach to environmental protection, social responsibility, and governance directly affects its international competitiveness and foundation for sustainable growth.

Genuine trust is not the short-term accommodation of a single stakeholder. It is the long-term ability to balance the needs of government, consumers, employees, suppliers, investors, and society. Only through governance grounded in integrity, fairness, and transparency can businesses remain resilient through change and create sustainable competitive advantages.

Since 1999, the Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand Survey has observed and documented consumer evaluations of brand trust, leaving Taiwan’s businesses with a valuable historical record. These year-over-year findings reveal not only changes in brand competitiveness, but also progress in integrity and responsible business practices. They make one lesson clear: trust is not accidental. It is the result of long-term management and institutional accumulation.

The Taiwan Trusted Brand Association was founded on this legacy. Its significance lies not only in preserving past achievements, but also in advancing and deepening the system. We aim to elevate trust from an annual award into a measurable, governable, and continuously improvable system—making it an asset that businesses can actively manage and build.

I have two central expectations for the Association. First, to establish an institutional foundation for brand trust and make trust a stable pillar of long-term business development. Second, to enhance enterprise value through deeper trust and strengthen the competitiveness and influence of Taiwanese brands in global markets.

Trust is fundamental to sustainable business and to social stability and cooperation. I hope the Taiwan Trusted Brand Association will serve as both a system builder and a platform for public dialogue amid AI transformation and the global ESG movement, working with all sectors to open a more resilient and forward-looking chapter for Taiwan’s businesses.

In an age of rapidly advancing AI and mass-produced information, true competition among businesses is no longer only about price, scale, or exposure. It is about trust.

Marketing can make a brand visible, but only sustained consumer trust can make it memorable. As information grows and truth becomes harder to distinguish from falsehood, consumers often need not more information, but a reliable basis for judgment.

This is why I support the Taiwan Trusted Brand Association and the Trusted Brand Survey.

For nearly 30 years, the survey has applied a consistent research framework, independent third-party research, and an unprompted, open-ended format to reflect consumers’ genuine recall and choice. It has built more than annual brand rankings; it has created a valuable long-term record of how trust among Taiwanese consumers changes over time.

I have always believed that truly valuable brands care not only about market share, but also about integrity, quality, service, social responsibility, and sustainable management. Short-term marketing may attract attention, but only long-term trust creates genuine brand value.

I also strongly support the Association’s direction. Beyond brand surveys and research, it seeks to cultivate a culture of brand trust in Taiwan through impartial research, third-party credibility, cross-industry exchange, and professional development.

If Taiwan continues to strengthen brand governance, a culture of reputation, and long-term trust systems, it can gradually move from exporting products to exporting trust.

A trustworthy society needs trustworthy businesses—and trust will be one of Taiwan’s most important long-term competitive strengths.

Sometimes I imagine Trusted Brand as an old house.

This house was built in Taiwan in 1999. For more than two decades, it has accompanied the growth of many brands and recorded consumers’ expectations of integrity, quality, and social responsibility. During that period, the Trusted Brand Survey conducted by Reader’s Digest accumulated trust data across generations through rigorous long-term research, becoming an exceptionally valuable social asset for Taiwan’s industries.

Yet the meaning of this house lies not in a single program. It represents a trust research system built over many years, and society’s shared expectation that brands act with integrity and responsibility.

The Taiwan Trusted Brand Association, founded in 2026, was born on this foundation. Rooted in a long-standing and credible consumer trust research system, the Association is committed to building and developing the Trusted Brand system. By combining expertise in branding, digital technology, and artificial intelligence (AI), it seeks to cultivate cross-disciplinary professionals and promote a sound brand economy with sustainable value.

In an era of rapidly advancing generative AI and digital technology, the challenges brands face are increasingly complex. Founding Honorary Chairperson Dr. Victor W. Liu reminds us that amid digital transformation and the ESG movement, businesses must build a long-term, solid foundation of trust in addition to pursuing market competitiveness.

Founding Honorary Advisor Dr. Shih-Chun Hsu also cites a line from the Book of Songs: “Though Zhou is an old state, its mandate is ever renewed.” It reminds us that a system can be inherited, but its mission must be continually renewed.

Building on the existing survey system and research methodology, the Taiwan Trusted Brand Association therefore aims to advance a governance framework for brand trust, deepen dialogue among industry, academia, and society, and help businesses strengthen brand management and long-term resilience amid digitalization, AI adoption, and sustainable governance.

To me, the old house of Trusted Brand carries thirty years of past effort and symbolizes the possibilities of the next thirty. If we are willing to strengthen its foundation and reinforce its structure, it can continue to safeguard trust, cultivate a new generation of brand governance professionals, and help Taiwanese brands stand more firmly and reach further on the international stage.

Trust has never been a short-term project. It is a long-term undertaking that requires the commitment of generations.

Let us hold firm to the foundation through change and renew our mission through innovation, so this old house continues to shine in a new era and accompanies Taiwanese brands into the next thirty years.