Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology group held an extended investment promotion and marketing conference for its three major science parks: Hsinchu, Central, and Southern science parks at the Hyatt Regency in Boston on Sept. 13. Yu-Chin Hsu, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, shared experiences with over a hundred guests attending the event. Hsu voiced the current status and future opportunities in both high tech companies and science parks in Taiwan. On the same day, the group invites Dr. Hsiujuan Tsai from Tangsueng Technology Consulting Co., Ltd. to share the presentation entitled “Innovative Development and Opportunities in Taiwan from the US Perspective.” Chengfung Li, co-founder, and chief operating officer of Origin Wireless Intelligent Broadcasting Company, shares his investment experience in the Taiwan Science Parks with guests.
Douglas Y. T. Hsu, Director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston, was present to welcome guests. Mark Sullivan, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Trade and Investment Office, also attended the event. He introduced his responsibilities and briefed on the economic state of the Massachusetts industry. Sullivan praised Taiwan as an “excellent” investment location.
Introducing Start-up Technology Companies
Hsu and his colleagues from the Ministry of Science and Technology were in San Francisco for business on Sept. 7. The party visited several local companies including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and other enterprises. Hsu mentioned that semiconductors, precision machinery, and biomedicine were the fastest growing industries in Taiwan for the first six months of 2018–reflecting the developmental trend of the international industry. He believes that Taiwan has a solid manufacturing foundation and expects to attract new companies to develop in Taiwan science parks, such as software, artificial intelligence, big data, and other businesses.Hsu acknowledges Boston as a high-tech center in the United States, with top universities and start-ups in artificial intelligence and biomedicine. He also believes that technology must be connected to manufacturers in the future. New technologies are combined with Taiwan’s mainstream and start-up companies, similar to many successful examples in Taiwan in the past.
Yeong-Junaq Wang, Director-General of Hsinchu Science Park, expressed his interest in virtual reality technology when he visited Aemass in Silicon Valley. The group hopes that companies specializing in the field will reach out with Taiwanese manufacturers to find more applications for VR/AR technology.
Weichen Lin, Director-General of the Southern Science Park, announced the “0th” drone competition to be held next year in Southern Science Park. He intends to gain insight into drone competition in Taiwan before holding world-class competitions in the future.
“Our Science Park is most proud of the service,” Wang said. He conveys that the “one-stop service” of the park allows foreign companies to run all procedures in one department, greatly simplifying administrative processes.
Startups Share Investment Experience
Origin Wireless Inc (OWI), a US-based smart radio wave company, has the first state-of-the-art positioning and tracking technology in the world. It was founded by Dr. Li Chengfung and Professor Liu Guorui from Taiwan and has 75 patents in the United States. The company has set up offices in Japan and Silicon Valley and invested in Yuanchuang Electronics Co., Ltd. in Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan this year.
Li Chengfung indicated that the Taiwan Science and Technology Park has a complete industrial ecology and provides support for the company’s product development, manufacturer contact, and consumer services. He also mentioned that in the process of cooperation, the Science and Technology Park has an enthusiastic contacting with investors, actively serving, supporting investors in research and development of technology and output products. Also, they will provide professional and meticulous information for investors in each process. His company has thus been able to develop efficiently.
Li also said that Taiwan’s three major science and technology parks are widely involved in different industries so that investors can reach out to partners in various fields. For its radio wave companies, the collaborative resources of the technology park give them the opportunity to apply technology to devices in more industries.
The Three Major Parks Complement Each Other
During the conference, Yu-Chin Hsu, Wang Yongzhuang, Yeong-Junaq Wang and Deputy Director of the Central Science Park, Shi Wenfang expressed the advantages and investment prospects of the three science parks to the guests. Mark Sullivan, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Trade and Investment Office, also introduced his departmental responsibilities and expressed his willingness to provide information and organize exchanges for investors in Taiwan and Massachusetts.Yu-Chin Hsu gave an example of Taiwan’s advantageous semiconductor industry and described the advantages of the upstream and downstream sectors of the Science Park. “The park is the key point of the semiconductor in the world...it makes IC and semiconductor. In Taiwan, you can find all the companies within two hours which from IC design, manufacturing, to testing, all industries are very comprehensive,” he said.
He commented that the key of the original industry of the Hsinchu Science Park is semiconductors, but now it has added biomedicine and software. The central park focuses on precision machinery and the south science park target at medical facilities and has the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing process. Also, there are artificial intelligence schools in Taiwan which trains more than 1,000 talents every year to promote the upgrading of these industries to artificial intelligence.
The group also mentioned that the government would provide various development subsidies and support policies such as tax incentives, research supporting, and lower prices to lease land in the park. Also, companies in the park can enjoy a “one-stop” administrative process and a comfortable environment.
“It (Southern Science Park) has more than 70 public art, and it is a real ‘park,’” Yeong-Junaq Wang said.
Yu-Chin Hsu welcomed entrepreneurs to visit the three major science parks and met with officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology to understand the local environment and preferential policies.
The Investment Promotion Group of the Ministry of Science and Technology will end the itinerary on Sept. 15. For the first time in the history of Taiwan, the Ministry of Science and Technology led three major science parks to attract investment and expected that seeds would be planted along the West Coast to the East Coast. The Ministry of Science and Technology will continue to work harder and will lead a delegation to Japan to attract investment in January next year.
