A US official praised Taiwan’s efforts to support female entrepreneurs and thanked the nation for its “generous contributions” to the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) launched by the US.
Sara Mathews, director of the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy in the US Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made the remark at the opening ceremony of the AWE Indo-Pacific Women in Tech Summit held by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration and the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taipei yesterday.
The US Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs launched the academy in nearly 100 countries in 2019 to support and empower female entrepreneurs around the world, the AIT said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Taiwan joined the initiative in 2021.
Seventy-five female entrepreneurs representing associates from Taiwan, Brunei, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam were invited to join the three-day summit, the AIT said.
‘BEST IN THE REGION’
“Taiwan’s AWE program is the best within the region” thanks to the significant support it receives from the administration, Mathews said.
“There is no other place better than Taiwan to host such a regional Women in Tech Summit,” as it is a progressing democracy in the Indo-Pacific region, has a thriving economy and is a technological powerhouse, AIT Director Sandra Oudkirk said.
The initiative in Taiwan has provided training and networking opportunities to female entrepreneurs, 205 of whom have graduated and become frequent winners of a wide range of competitions, she said.
The AIT also operates Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs and TechCamp Kaohsiung to foster female business owners, Oudkirk said, adding that the programs help boost economic and people-to-people ties between Taiwan and the US.
“Women entrepreneurs are significant forces in driving global economic growth,” Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) said.
Through the program, Taiwan aims to connect female entrepreneurs in the Indo-Pacific region to increase the potential for further collaboration, he said.
PROGRAM’S OFFERINGS
The program in Taiwan offers a series of entrepreneurial courses, exchange events and platforms for participants to form connections with AWE alumni, and invites Taiwanese female business leaders and entrepreneurs to serve as mentors, the administration said.
Participants are encouraged to expand into US markets, establishing a model of female entrepreneurship in the Indo-Pacific region and creating an environment that is friendly to female enterprises, it said.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
Nearly 800 Indian tourists are to arrive this week on an incentive tour organized by Indian company Asian Painted Ltd, making it the largest tour group from the South Asian nation to visit since the COVID-19 pandemic. The travelers are scheduled to arrive in six batches from Sunday to Feb. 25 for five-day tours, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The tour would take the travelers, most of whom are visiting Taiwan for the first time, to several tourist sites in Taipei and Yilan County, including tea houses in Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Ximending (西門町) areas. They would also visit
HOSPITAL VISITS: Shin Kong Mitsukoshi pledged to give the families of the four people who died NT$11m each and provide support for staff working at the time The central government would assist local governments to enhance public safety, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as he visited people in hospital who were injured in an explosion at a department store in Taichung on Thursday. A suspected gas explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang department store in Taichung at 11:33am on Thursday, killing four people and injuring 36. Of the 40 casualties, 39 were hospitalized, Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed. Three died after out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the data showed. As of 6am yesterday, 25 of those injured had been discharged from hospital, leaving 11