Portrait
Audrey Tang
Born
18 April 1981Taipei, Taiwan
Programmer and politicianTaiwan45th birthday

Audrey Tang

A self-taught programmer, Tang brought open-source collaboration and public participation into Taiwan’s digital government.

Audrey Tang was born in Taipei in 1981. Tang left school at fourteen, developed programming skills independently and became active in technology start-ups and free and open-source software.

Through the civic technology community g0v, Tang worked on ways to make public information accessible and government more accountable. That community also supported the 2014 Sunflower movement. In 2016 Tang entered Taiwan’s government as a minister without portfolio responsible for digital affairs, then became the first head of the new Ministry of Digital Affairs in 2022.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan’s digital response drew on collaboration between public officials and civic technologists. Tools such as maps of mask availability used open data to help people find supplies. Tang’s approach emphasised making information available and allowing communities to build useful services around it.

Tang transitioned at 24 and has described their gender as post-gender, accepting different pronouns. Their appointment brought international attention to transgender representation in government. After leaving ministerial office in 2024, Tang continued to work on digital democracy and public participation, advocating institutions in which technology helps people contribute to decisions that affect them.

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