While presiding over a symposium of young entrepreneurs today, Vice Premier Chang San-cheng stated that the Executive Yuan hopes to understand young entrepreneurs' needs and help engender a friendly environment and atmosphere for startups.
This understanding will be reached through dialogue between officials and young entrepreneurs, explained Chang, who noted that these efforts are aimed at realizing the government's policy objective of helping young people develop careers.
The vice premier made these remarks after hearing a report from the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on implementation of relevant measures.
The symposium focused mainly on the young entrepreneurs' five major proposals: replenishing the shortage in digital network talents, channeling capital to investment in startups, speeding up deregulation and policy liberalization, properly adjusting existing subsidy mechanisms, and engendering a venturous startup culture.
Regarding the digital network talent shortage, Chang instructed the Ministry of Education (MOE) to pay attention to the issue of entrepreneurial internships and tasked Minister without Portfolio Yan Hong-sen with coordination of related ministries and agencies, Executive Yuan Spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun reported.
Chang also stated that as collaborations between industry, academia and research institutes as well as talent cultivation involve the MOEA, MOE and Ministry of Labor (MOL), he hopes to achieve resource integration and promotional results through the establishment of industry-academia cooperation platforms and coordination of cross-ministerial collaboration resources.
As for channeling venture capital into startups, Sun pointed out that aside from the angel business plan set up by the Executive Yuan's National Development Fund to provide funding for eligible businesses, the Financial Supervisory Commission has also established a Go Incubation Board for Startup and Acceleration Firms to help startups of a smaller scale to raise capital.
With regard to expediting deregulation and policy liberalization, Vice Premier Chang directed the MOEA and MOL to continue to examine and relax regulations for hiring talents and to streamline administrative procedures for company registration of startups.
As for young entrepreneurs' proposals to properly adjust existing subsidy mechanisms, the vice premier instructed related ministries and agencies to review the compositions of relevant committees to ensure they include appropriate proportions of academics and industry experts. Chang asked relevant ministries and agencies to appropriately adjust and streamline outdated key performance indicators and complicated administrative procedures.
With regard to engendering a venturous startup culture, the MOEA's Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) stated that it has already set up a one-stop brick-and-mortar startup service base at the former official residence of the premier (No. 142, Jinhua Street, Taipei City). In addition, the SMEA plans to create 10 regional innovation startup parks in three years nationwide and provide investment matching and professional technical assistance.
Discussions at the symposium were enthusiastic. Chang tasked the four ministers without portfolio involved in the startup programs to each conduct symposiums on issues related to their respective jurisdictions, after which there will be an overall integration of the program plans.