Taiwan has risen to 26th in a global start-up ecosystem rankings report, up four notches from last year, the Ministry of Science and Technology said yesterday.
The rankings were complied by StartupBlink, an Israel-based global start-up ecosystem map and research center, in conjunction with the ministry’s Taiwan Tech Arena, listing about 1,000 cities and 100 countries.
In The Global Startup Ecosystem Index Report 2021, Taiwan ranked 26th globally, although it remained seventh in the Asia-Pacific region.
Taiwan was 14th on the “Hardware & IoT” subindex and 15th on the “Health Technology” subindex, the report said.
Among the 1,000 cities in the report, Taipei was listed 41st, up one notch from last year, while five other Taiwanese cities — Hsinchu, Taoyuan, Tainan, Taichung and Kaohsiung — made the rankings for the first time.
The nation’s performance in the start-up ecosystem has gained international recognition through the efforts of government agencies and the private sector, which has helped consolidate its status in deep tech and other emerging industries, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan rose three places from last year to 17th in The COVID-19 Innovation Report compiled by the UNAIDS Health Innovation Exchange and StartupBlink, placing it among the 32 best-performing countries, the ministry said.
The greater Taipei area advanced on the list of 80 cities in the innovation rankings from 10th last year to ninth, it said.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over