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CETRA plans design hub

A national design center set to help small and medium-sized companies to enhance product design and marketing will be launched by the end of the year with an investment of NT$46 million, a government official said yesterday.

The "Taiwan Creative Design Center," to be located in Nankang Software Park (南港軟體園區), aims to provide a broad range of services including product innovation, development, design, marketing strategies and talent training, said Tony Chang (張光民), executive director of China External Trade Development Council's (CETRA, 外貿協會) design promotion center.

"Product design and marketing are especially important for companies in this knowledge-based economy era, as they generally lack resources and funds when launching their products," Chang said.

The proposed design center will be two-thirds funded by the government, with the remaining one third coming from eight private companies, including Acer Inc, BenQ Corp (明基電通), Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦).

The head of a small and medium business association said he welcomes the project and looks forward to the benefits it may bring, although client companies may be charged for obtaining services from the center in the future.

"A research and design center is urgently needed for this segment of business," Day Sheng-tung (戴勝通), Chairman of National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (中小企業協會) said yesterday. "[But] a majority of our member companies just don't have sufficient talents and resources to come up with sophisticated strategies in product design and marketing by their own."

However, private marketing companies are suspicious about the state-run design house.

"To set up a design center requires public credibility, but the government seems rather inexperienced in the creativity industry compared to the private sector," said Anne Lin (林叔蓉), planning director at J. Walter Thompson, a US-based advertising firm.

Another advertising firm said the government's intention to help local companies is good, but the effect is yet to be seen.

"Many companies still prefer to hire private advertising agencies to build image and marketing strategies for their products," said Karen Chung (鐘立心), an official at Ogilvy and Mather Advertising's Taipei office.

Chang acknowledged that the center may not able to help a massive number of companies due to insufficient manpower. The center will initially be staffed by some 60 people who are currently working at his office, before expanding to 150 after two years in operation, he said.
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