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.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow