To cope with a shortage of professionals in the local software industry, Taiwan is planning to introduce more experts from abroad, primarily from India.
"Over the next five years, Taiwan is likely to experience a big shortage in software talent," Tsai Ching-yen (
To meet the demand, the government wants to employ experts from India, while at the same time cultivating more local professionals in the sector, Tsai said.
India is regarded as one of the world's most competitive software developers. Its software exports were valued at US$3.9 billion last year, Tsai said. "The ranking of India on the international software quality scale is also high."
While the government's plan of introducing Indian professionals is still in the preliminary stage, it is aimed at helping to upgrade Taiwan's manufacturing with advanced software technologies. "Integrated-circuit design and embedded software have a lot of room for progress in Taiwan," Tsai said.
According to an India market insider, however, Taiwan's plan in introducing Indian professionals has been lagging behind other countries for years.
"Since the end of 1999, Japanese and German governments began to initiate specific guidelines and incentives to attract our people," said Ranjit Gupta, director-general of the India-Taipei Association.
Japan has introduced more than 10,000 Indians to its workforce last year. But according to Gupta, Indians generally prefer to work in English-speaking countries such as the US, the UK, Canada and Australia, because Indians can usually speak English.
About one million Indian engineers work overseas, of which 300,000 are in the US.
"Non-English speaking nations may have to offer attractive incentives such as a high salary, outstanding benefits and a good living environment," Gupta said.
Taiwan's plan hasn't provided any of these incentives.
"The plan is just in the preliminary stage. At fist we would like to work as a bridge to connect local companies and Indian professionals. Then, based on their feedback, we may make further adjustments," said Tseng Ta-yu (曾大友), a researcher on the government's advisory group.
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