At the Cabinet's weekly meeting Thursday, Premier Chen Chien-jen received a National Development Council (NDC) briefing on the progress of the Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan 2.0 to promote domestic innovation and entrepreneurship. The premier said that since the council began promoting the original Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan, numerous Taiwanese startups have gained prominence internationally, while the domestic startup ecosystem has become much more active.
Strengthening the nation's innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem was one of the two pillars of the original Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan. Since its launch in September 2016, the plan has nurtured four Taiwanese unicorns (a startup company valued at more than US$1 billion) and helped numerous Taiwanese startups to reach the initial public offering stage of funding. The premier thanked each of the related ministries and agencies for their continued hard work across many areas including finance, legislation, human resources and markets, to assist startup development.
Internationally, cooperation between enterprises and startups is extremely common, the premier said. Many major firms spur enterprise and industry transformation and upgrading, as well as introduce external innovation, through investments, mergers, and acquisitions involving startups. Large enterprises have firm foundations while startups have soft power, and cooperation among large and small companies will create important opportunities for Taiwan's future industrial development. The premier directed the NDC to coordinate the relevant ministries and agencies to come up with incentives to enhance investment and cooperation mechanisms involving enterprises and startups, and accelerate startup growth.
Premier Chen emphasized that in the post-pandemic era, emerging issues including digital transformation, net-zero sustainability and cybersecurity have already become international trends. Taiwan must proactively pursue new opportunities in these areas, and a key strategy is to leverage the innovative research and development capabilities of startup enterprises and their ability to break through bottlenecks. The premier expects ministries and agencies to keep an open mind as fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, and listing requirements involving startups all require a new mindset to give new ventures developmental flexibility.