In his remarks, President Lai stated that the TIOS has long linked together businesses with important international buyers. Moreover, faced with the rapidly changing global market and the accelerating risks of climate change, Taiwan’s orchids are not merely an agricultural product, they are carriers of culture and values. He said he hoped orchids from Taiwan can become similar to tulips from the Netherlands, being exported worldwide, creating industrial value, helping farmers improve their lives, and drawing global attention to Taiwan’s cultural soft power.

President Lai also pointed out that the government will continue to fight for zero tariffs on exports to the US and strive to upgrade the competitiveness of the flower industry. In the future the government will invest development funds in the Floral Industry Innovation Center and through the implementation of long-term and medium-term infrastructure programs promote the upgrading and transformation of the floriculture industry. It is estimated that over the next ten years the Center’s annual flower exports could reach NT$2.4 billion per year and it will create over 3,000 jobs as it continues to prosper.

Minister of Agriculture Chen explained that the most important goal of the TIOS is to enable the world to appreciate the beauty of Taiwan’s flowers and through flowers to see the vitality of Taiwan. The TIOS has been ranked among the top orchid exhibitions in the world for many years now, but this is the first year that the MOA is the main organizer. He said that the MOA has specially arranged for the TIOS and FTE to be held jointly to further strengthen industry interactions and cross-domain cooperation, especially highlighting the aesthetics of combining flowers with AI.

Minister Chen further stated that data shows that in 2024, the value of flower exports from Taiwan was NT$6.54 billion. Of this, orchids accounted for about NT$6 billion, or over 90%. Such excellent results are the products of the commitment and hard work of every flower-related business and farmer. The TIOS has long served as an important platform for displaying the accomplishments of the industry and for professional interactions, and in the future the MOA will continue to promote international linkages and market expansion. The Ministry will also strengthen and deepen industry-government-academia cooperation in the field of floriculture; promote technological upgrading, manpower training, and sustainable transformation in the industry; and assist Taiwan’s flower industry to stably advance in the global market. Minister Chen specially thanked President Lai for his support in founding the Floral Industry Innovation Center, which makes it possible for government agencies to provide more services to even more orchid businesses.

Orchids are an important calling card for Taiwan in the world as well as a symbol of the high level of expertise and internationalization in Taiwan’s agricultural sector. Over many years, Taiwan has moved from traditional growing to precision breeding and smart production, building a comprehensive R&D, production, and export system and becoming one of the most impactful moth orchid supplier nations in the world. The 2026 joint TIOS and FTE is not just one of the year’s biggest events, it is an important platform for displaying Taiwan’s agricultural innovation capabilities and industrial resilience to the international community. When orchids quietly bloom in spring, what the world sees are not only beautiful scenes of blossoming flowers, but Taiwan’s confidence and strengths as part of global society. The 2026 TIOS and FTE is running from February 27 to March 16, and the MOA sincerely invites local residents and international friends to its Floral Industry Innovation Center (Tainan City, Houbi District, Wushulin No. 325) to bear witness to the new future of Taiwan’s floriculture industry.

A group photo at the opening event of the 2026 Taiwan International Orchid Show (TIOS) and Floral Technology Exhibition (FTE): the “Night of Orchid Elegance Reception.”

A second group photo at the Night of Orchid Elegance Reception.

President Lai delivered remarks at the event.

Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih also delivered remarks at the event.

President Lai is shown here on a tour of the joint TIOS and FTE exhibition.

The MOA states that the “Blooming Resilience Pavilion” is the “soul” of this joint exhibition. Cutting edge digital technology is used to power up traditional flowers, as the pavilion includes Taiwan’s first “AI x Ecology” immersive theater using a naked-eye (glasses-free) 3D large-screen LED wall to enable the digital “Orchidsaur” avatar to arise from a tranquil state and guide visitors through a rainforest dreamscape on a sensory journey combining nature with technology. In addition, the pavilion’s “Multi-diverse Floral Section” uses a maze-like traffic flow to display the evolution and innovative use of orchids in modern design, thereby demonstrating the next-generation creative capabilities and design potential of Taiwan’s floriculture industry.

Meanwhile, the “Orchid Excellence Pavilion,” a venue where breeding achievements from around Taiwan are on display, showcases the robust expertise and high international standing of Taiwan’s orchid industry. The pavilion brings together more than 1000 competition orchids from across Taiwan, and highlights Taiwan’s leading competitive position in the global orchid market. This year the pavilion features a 360-degree ring-shaped traffic flow, enabling visitors to get a close-up look at the overall winner and champion orchids in each category. The pavilion not only displays the beauty of orchids, even more importantly it shows the achievements of Taiwan orchid breeders over many years of R&D. The services of professional guides are available, and they will describe in detail the main points for evaluation of the flowers and their specially bred characteristics.

Next, the “Global Connection Pavilion” focuses on strengthening the commercial value and international linkages of the orchid industry, through phased operations. For the four days prior to the opening of the joint exhibition, it is defined as the hub for “International Business Networking.” It is a designated venue for professional international buyers to engage in purchasing discussions with producers, and will also display premium quality export flowers. During the second half of the joint exhibition, on the other hand, this site is being transformed into a “Daily Life Pavilion.” It will include artistic as well as cultural and creative work, products for daily life, and health foods. The goal is to put the ideal of expanding the role of flowers in daily life into practice by encouraging the in-depth combination of the floriculture industry with cultural and creative as well as everyday life applications, thereby driving development of related industries.

The “Bloom Market,” meanwhile, is based on the core concept of returning to the basic nature of flowers as decorative objects for daily life, offering an approachable orchid display-and-sales space. The pavilion brings together outstanding orchid businesses and horticultural brands from throughout Taiwan. It includes over 90 display-and-sales booths offering diverse orchid varieties, floral arts and design, and horticultural materials, so that visitors to the joint exhibition can not only admire the beauty of flowers, but also experience the pleasures of “being able to buy, being able to take away, and being able to learn.” To meet the needs of international travelers and businesspeople, the pavilion includes an on-site phytosanitary services desk offering one-stop fast and convenient services and ensuring that Taiwan’s outstanding orchids can be shipped smoothly and quickly to markets around the globe.

Finally, the “Floral Technology Exhibition” uses an immersive format to display innovative ideas combining flowers with technology. The theme of the area is “The Pulsing Kun Island.” Through a gigantic 65-meter-wide display projection combined with an interactive light stick, it allows visitors to participate in a real-time display of the majestic imagery of flowers blooming and the rhythms of whales. “Mirage of the Floating Whales” offers a mixture of naked-eye 3D imagery and water vapor to create a multi-sensory exhibition experience. Meanwhile, “Blooming with Butterfly” combines real-life floral arts with AI-generated digital butterflies, creating a poetic space blending the real and the virtual. The pavilion showcases the exhibition’s role in bringing together the vitality of nature with future aesthetics.

The MOA states that the 2026 Taiwan International Orchid Show and Floral Technology Exhibition is not only a feast for the eyes, it is an important milestone in the transformation and upgrading of Taiwan’s floriculture industry, integrating technology, aesthetic innovation, and commercial activity. We cordially invite people from home and abroad to come to the Floral Industry Innovation Center (Tainan City, Houbi District, Wushulin, No. 325) between February 27 and March 16 to share in this exciting moment in the dazzling blooming of Taiwan’s orchids.

The “Blooming Resilience Pavilion” showcases the next-generation creative capabilities and design potential of Taiwan’s floriculture industry.

The “Orchid Excellence Pavilion” is focused on the display of achievements in orchid breeding from across Taiwan. It highlights Taiwan’s leading competitive position in the global market for these flowers.

The “Floral Technology Exhibition” employs an immersive format to display the blending of flowers with technology.

During a preliminary opening event for the joint TIOS and FTE exhibition, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Hu Jong-I related that the annual production value of Taiwan’s floriculture industry is about NT$18 billion. Within this industry, orchids are the pride of Taiwan as well as the most competitive product produced by it. Overseas sales of Phalaenopsis (moth) orchids account for over 90% of the total value of Taiwan’s flower exports, holding a steady position as the nationwide leader for many years now, with the US and Japan being especially important markets. Also, this year’s TIOS marks an important milestone as the Floral Industry Innovation Center (FIIC) will be hosting the event for the first time since the FIIC’s founding in September of 2025. Meanwhile, the FTE, with its forward-looking curation, will comprehensively demonstrate Taiwan’s strong floriculture industrial chain from advanced breeding capabilities to technology applications.

There are many highlights to the 2026 TIOS and FTE. The five major display areas include: the “Blooming Resilience Pavilion,” which will bring together more than 10,000 orchids in bloom and carry visitors into the floral world of the future; the “Orchid Excellence Pavilion,” which will focus on over 1,000 competitive flowers from home and abroad and provide an international stage for Taiwan’s achievements in breeding; the “Global Connection Pavilion,” which will operate for four days and be an area exclusively for flower industry B2B discussions with matchmaking functions, serving as a platform for global flower supply transactions; the “Bloom Market,” arranged around a core of returning to the basic nature of flowers as decorative objects for daily life and extending flower appreciation into everyday life, and featuring over 100 businesses providing diverse choices of flowers and floral craftsmanship; and the “Landscape Display Area,” which will host domestic and foreign expert groups and students from a large number of schools who will demonstrate applications of flowers in different settings. In addition, there will also be a “Floral Industry Forum” during the joint exhibition, to which experts from Taiwan and overseas are being invited to engage in in-depth exchanges and discussions on issues including industry technologies, international trends, and sustainable breeding.

The MOA further explains that the 2026 FTE, one of the two joint exhibitions, will take technology-based art as its curatorial theme. It will integrate technologies including AI, sensor-based interaction, holographic projection, a gigantic 65-meter curved visual display (the largest in Taiwan), and innovative “naked-eye five senses” immersive experiential technology. It will surpass the limits of traditional passive displays, and visitors will be able, through interactive stories and multi-sensory contact, to experience the beautiful combination of real-world floral arts with AI digital technology.

The MOA states that the theme “Blooming Taiwan” represents the fact that the floriculture industry in Taiwan, despite having experienced natural disasters and international competition, continues to display resiliency and innovation. The three main sub-themes of the joint exhibition, “industrial renaissance,” “international linkages,” and “societal resonance,” will highlight the journey of Taiwan’s floriculture from its native land to the international community. The event will not only be a floral banquet, it will be an international stage on which to display the transformation and innovative capabilities of Taiwan’s floriculture industry The MOA sincerely invites ordinary people, industry figures, and individuals from related fields from both Taiwan and abroad to actively participate. At the joint exhibition they can personally experience the robustness that Taiwan’s floriculture continues to show regardless of adversity, and see the beauty of the flowers of Taiwan.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture Hu Jong-I delivered remarks at a preliminary opening event for the joint 2026 Taiwan International Orchid Show (TIOS) and Floral Technology Exhibition (FTE) and encouraged Taiwan’s floriculture industry to continue to make progress.

The ceremony to start the “happiness ferris wheel” marked the official launch of the 2026 joint TIOS and FTE.

At the preliminary opening event, representatives of the floriculture industry collectively invited everyone to attend the 2026 joint TIOS and FTE.

A group photo.