Four entrepreneurs have donated a total of NT$900 million (US$27.6 million) to National Taiwan University (NTU) to fund a project to foster its Hsinchu campus and make it the centerpiece of the nation's biomedical research, university sources said yesterday.
Of the total, NT$150 million came from Etron Technology Inc (鈺創科技), a chip-design company; NT$50 million was provided by HealthBanks Biotech Co (生寶臍帶血), a company specializing in umbilical cord blood-related technology; NT$350 million was donated by Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) and the remaining NT$350 million was offered by an NTU alumnus who at first refused to reveal her name but was later identified as Hsu Chao-hui (許照惠), founder and vice chairman of US-based IVAX Corp.
Memorandums of understanding were signed by NTU and three of the four donors yesterday at a press conference in Taipei.
According to NTU, the Hsinchu campus will be established in three stages, with seven complexes to be built on its 38 hectare compound.
The Hsinchu County Government has donated the land to the NTU for its Hsinchu campus, and the construction plan was approved in 2000. The plan has been delayed because management of the biomedical research park that NTU wanted to develop together with its Hsinchu campus was later transferred to the National Science Council.
Construction has yet to begin and NTU and the Hsinchu government have organized a Chupei task force to deal with the issue.
Starbucks Taiwan’s decision to charge for drink customization, which had been free, has sparked consumer backlash, highlighting the challenge of raising prices without making customers feel they are losing value, experts said. Since Oct. 12, customers who order drinks with less or no ice and ask to have the volume topped up with milk or other liquid have been charged an additional NT$15. Topping off drinks without ice was previously free, and disgruntled customers posted photos on social media showing that iced drinks ordered without ice were only half full if the extra NT$15 was not paid. The posts drew tens of thousands
EXPLANATION: Tsai said he attended events featuring various interviewees to observe them firsthand as part of his interview research Television host Kevin Tsai (蔡康永) last night broke his silence over a controversy surrounding his appearance at a campaign event for Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋), saying he had never supported Taiwan independence. “I have always hoped for friendly cross-strait relations. I have never supported Taiwan independence,” Tsai wrote in a post on the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo. Tsai, who has hosted television shows in China, attended the opening of Shen’s campaign headquarters on Oct. 4, drawing criticism from Chinese social media users and prompting some Chinese companies to distance themselves from him. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
The husband of a Taiwanese woman stabbed to death at a hotel in Japan has been detained on suspicion of entering into a sham marriage and taking out high-value insurance policies in her name, Tainan prosecutors said today. A woman surnamed Ching (井), 38, was killed on Monday last week at a tourist hotel in Fujikawaguchiko, Japan. A Taiwanese woman surnamed Yang (楊) was arrested by Japanese police on suspicion of murder, Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office deputy chief prosecutor Wang Sheng-hao (王聖豪) said. Investigators suspect that Ching's new husband, surnamed Lee (李), 29, arranged a sham marriage, encouraged her to travel to Japan
Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet Air launched a new route yesterday between Tainan and Hanoi, becoming the third international route offered out of the southern Taiwan airport. Tainan Deputy Mayor Yeh Tse-shan (葉澤山) greeted passengers on the inaugural inbound flight from Hanoi, while noting that all 230 seats on the outbound flight had sold out. Flights on the route, which use the Airbus 321, will be offered four times weekly, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. According to VietJet, the flights will depart Hanoi at 7:50 am and arrive in Tainan at 11:10 am The return
RSS