Group goes abroad for high-tech talent

A talent-seeking mission from Taiwan is scheduled to visit the US and Japan between Sept. 9 and Sept. 24 to recruit high-technology and management talent, Minister without Portfolio Lin Feng-ching (林逢慶) said yesterday.

Lin said that the delegation, jointly organized by the Cabinet-level National Science Council and the Industrial Development and Investment Center, will be composed of officials from the Science and Technology Advisory Group and representatives of 41 domestic high-tech enterprises.

The mission is slated to visit San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and New York, as well as Tokyo, where interviews will be held with prospective recruits, said Lin, who serves as the advisory group's deputy convener. The talent-seeking tour is expected to attract 2,000 overseas high-tech professionals, he said.

Noting that Taiwanese students studying overseas will be the main targets of the mission, Lin said the talent-hunters will not rule out introducing high-tech workers from foreign countries, including China.

According to the group's statistics, there will be around 17,450 high-tech job openings in Taiwan's semiconductor, monitor, digital content and telecommunication sectors in the 2003-2005 period.

He said that the group invited executives from 47 domestic high-tech companies to visit the US and Japan to recruit talent last year. A total of 3,000 applicants signed up for interviews and 600 were hired.