The National Science Council yesterday inaugurated the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park with the aim of putting Taiwan on the map with advanced biotechnology and rejuvenating the nation's economy.
With the post-war baby boom generation starting to go into retirement, the healthcare and pharmaceuticals industry is estimated to represent a US$200 billion market worldwide, said Hsinchu Science Park administration director-general Huang Der-ray (
"Taiwan's current market share in these industries is a mere 0.5 percent, but with the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park we are banking on adding NT$100 billion [US$3.2 billion] to the nation's annual revenue," he said.
Several factors would contribute to creating a hub for domestic and international biotechnology as well as high-end healthcare equipment in the park, where pharmaceutical companies could congregate and lead industries in other parts of the nation, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said at the opening ceremony.
"The development of the park testifies to the government's determination to invigorate Taiwan's economy and develop high-tech industries, particularly those related to biotechnology," he said.
The National Development Fund has allocated NT$30 billion as investment seed money for firms investing in the new biotechnology park, he said.
With the legislature's approval of the Biotech and New Pharmaceutical Development Act (生技新藥產業發展條例) last June, business owners at the park would enjoy extremely favorable tax breaks and rent control policies, which could foster growth in the time-and-money-consuming industry, he said.
Huang said the park would be home to a comprehensive cluster of biotechnological establishments.
In addition to private companies, the government plans to build an incubation center for innovation development and talent training, a world-class medical center developed under a build-operate-transfer model, a Centers for Disease Control office and an exhibition center, he said.
"The Hsinchu Science Park administration will also encourage world-leading firms to set up shop in the biomedical park, banking on the successes we have achieved at the Hsinchu Science Park," Huang said.
"Whenever a new medicine or innovation is developed, we will have trained personnel to walk the companies through FDA [US Food and Drug Administration] or CE [a product marking applying to products regulated by the European Commission's health standards] certification procedures to help open up international markets," he said.
The park has the geographic advantage of being located between the Hsinchu and the Mid-Taiwan Science Parks, in addition to being right next to both the Sun Yat-sen Freeway and the Taiwan High Speed Rail Hsinchu station, which would also help to draw investors' attention, he said.
"So far we have spoken to a couple of dozen interested firms, both foreign and domestic, about the possibility of setting up shop here," Huang said.
He said that plant construction could start immediately, and, with 82 hectares of land in reserve, the 38-hectare park had ample room for expansion.
The Hsinchu Science Park administration is also looking to open Miaoli County's Tongluo Science Park, which is targeting low-pollution, high-tech industries such as microchip design, information technology and solar energy, Huang said.
Talks have been initiated with US Internet giant Google, although a final agreement has not been reached, he said.
"With forest conservation areas covering 140 hectares of the 350-hectare park, the environmental impact review regulations are much more stringent here than in other science parks," Huang said.
"A biking trail girding the park, hiking trails into the forest conservation areas ... and the view from the park looking out to a sea of green forests will no doubt make the Tongluo park the most eco-friendly high-tech park in Taiwan," he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS