Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) on Sunday inaugurated the base for the implementation of the government’s “Asian Silicon Valley” project, which is designed to improve the nation’s overall economic structure.
The major tasks of the Executive Center for the Asian Silicon Valley Plan in Taoyuan are to promote the Internet of Things (IoT) and innovative industries, boost economic development by integrating local and international sectors, and push industrial transformation, Chen said at the ceremony.
The opening is the first step for the executive center, from which Taiwan intends to bring together talent in innovation from around the world, making them into the power driving Taiwan’s industrial upgrade and transformation, Chen said.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
The center is in a financial building in front of the Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station in Jhongli District (中壢).
Chen said the new facility is expected to develop Taoyuan into the engine for Taiwan’s economic development.
The plan was not formed to make a Taiwanese copy of Silicon Valley in California, “but to encourage Taiwanese industries to have the spirit of innovation,” Chen said.
According to the National Development Council, which drafted the Asian Silicon Valley implementation plan, it consists of “one ecosystem,” “two objectives,” “three links” and “four strategies.”
The ecosystem means the formation of a cluster of innovative start-ups with a heavy focus on research and development (R&D), while the two objectives include one to foster the ecosystem and another to promote innovative R&D for IoT industries, the council said. The three links means joining local industries to connect Taiwan to the world and build links to the future.
As for the four strategies, they are the concrete steps the government will take to tie Taiwan to Silicon Valley and other global technology clusters, turning the nation into an innovative start-up destination for young Asians and creating new industries for the next generation, it said.
The implementation strategies include creating a robust start-up and entrepreneurship ecosystem by cultivating innovative talent, providing business expansion capital and adjusting laws to create a friendlier environment for start-ups; establishing a one-stop service center to integrate the R&D capabilities of Silicon Valley and other global innovation clusters; integrating Taiwan’s hardware advantages into software applications; and establishing a quality Internet environment, it said.
The plan’s implementation period will run through 2023, the council said.
A budget of NT$11.3 billion (US$350.4 million) has already been allocated for next year for Internet infrastructure, mobile broadband services, e-commerce, smart applications, industry-university collaboration, test beds, digital talent and regulatory adjustment, the council said.
Projecting the combined effect of the Asian Silicon Valley plan and other digital economy plans, the council said it expects Taiwan’s IoT global market share to climb from 3.8 percent last year to 4.2 percent by 2020 and to 5 percent by 2025.
Premier Lin Chuan (林全) has said that the aim of the plan is to improve the nation’s overall economic structure.
The Asian Silicon Valley initiative is similar in nature to the Industry 4.0 movement taking hold around the world and is one of five innovative industries upon which President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has vowed to focus, Lin said.
Four other innovative industries the Tsai administration has designated as the core of Taiwan’s economy are “smart” machinery, “green” technology, biomedical technology and national defense.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS