Forbes Magazine said in a column this week that life in Taiwan is “simply too relaxed and enjoyable” for entrepreneurs to launch risky startup companies.
“While more capital is coming into this tech-intensive market, there’s still a gap,” columnist Rebecca Fannin wrote.
Fannin said that the problem is not a lack of talent, but that it is related to culture.
She said that life in Taiwan does not “stimulate that hunger needed to break out of the mold and venture out of corporate life to do a startup.”
Fannin said there are exceptions, such as Shawn Guan, Umbo CV, Appier, Bubbleye, Pinkoi and SnapAsk, but that fear of failure still outweighs fear of missing out.
This is certainly not the case in Silicon Valley or Beijing, she said.
However, Fannin said the situation will change.
“I have faith that Taiwan’s startup engines will gain momentum,” she wrote. “A lot of folks I’ve been talking with lately care deeply about the future of Taiwan. They are putting their time and capital in to make things happen so that Taiwan has a chance to regain its leadership stance in technology.”
In a column published earlier this month in Forbes, Fannin said there were early indications of efforts to “jumpstart” Taiwan’s tech economy.
“Anyone who thinks that Taiwan lacks tech talent should keep in mind its core long-time focus on semiconductors, a field this nation has owned for decades,” she wrote.
Fannin said encouraging signs for a new breed of startups from Taiwan included major venture capital financings of promising young businesses ranging from e-commerce to 3D printing to mobile apps.
“The venture investment amounts going into Taiwanese startups are still tiny, at US$421 million in 2015,” she said.
There have also been reports in the US over the last few days that to encourage startup companies to catch up with the Internet of Things, Taiwan’s government has launched a new program to help them reach the global marketplace.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS