The government is planning to invest NT$150 billion (US$4.63 billion) in start-ups annually for five years to create 20,000 jobs within five years and become a start-up exporting nation within the next decade, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said on Friday.
The Executive Yuan is also budgeting NT$11.7 billion for the first year of the third edition of the Asia Silicon Valley policy, which is expected to run from next year to 2028.
The National Development Council is also expected to allocate NT$12.5 billion for next fiscal year, bringing government investments in private start-ups to about NT$25 billion, the Executive Yuan said.
Photo: CNA
The Asia Silicon Valley initiative was launched in 2016, with a second edition announced in 2021, while the current edition, based on President William Lai’s (賴清德) innovative entrepreneurship tropical ecology policy, was approved on Friday.
The third edition of the policy is a four-year program based on two central themes: exports of Internet of Things (IoT) products and doubling investment in start-up companies, with a focus on artificial intelligence, 5G networks and satellite technology.
An Executive Yuan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, yesterday said that the policy aims to assist Taiwanese start-ups in establishing a global presence, adding that the government has established sites in Tokyo and Silicon Valley, California, and funds in Southeast Asia.
This would facilitate Taiwanese industries’ efforts in digitization and adoption of the net zero concept, the source said.
The policy encourages insurance companies to invest in start-up companies and promotes the relaxation of regulations on angel investments, they said.
The Executive Yuan is to amend laws to create greater incentives to encourage corporate investment in start-ups, they said.
The government is mulling amendments to Article 23-2 of the Statute for Industrial Innovation (產業創新條例) and relaxing regulations from two to five years.
At present, Article 23-2 states that individuals making cash investments of up to NT$1 million in high-risk start-ups — meaning they have existed for less than two years — and obtaining stock in these companies can, within two years of securing stock ownership, file for a tax reduction of up to 50 percent or NT$3 million of their general income for up to two years.
The amendment is expected to be reviewed next year, the source said.
The source said that the project hopes to foster enough start-ups to account for 5.2 percent of the global IoT market’s value, the source said.
The source also said that the goal was for the companies to develop 300 intelligent solutions, 100 of which would be exported overseas, and to establish three overseas start-up “colonies.”
The policy’s goal is to attract US$5 billion in funding and achieve 100 “exits” for start-up companies, they said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to