Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/09
By: Liao Yu-yang and William Yen

Taipei, May 9 (CNA) A government goal to attract NT$250 billion of investment from overseas Taiwanese firms returning to the country in one year has been doubled to NT$500 billion, after nearly NT$280 billion of investments were pledged as of Thursday, according the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

In an MOEA released video, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced the new target of NT$500 billion, after five more firms pledged investments, with the cumulative total reaching NT$279.5 billion since the “Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in Taiwan” was launched at the start of the year.

The five latest companies — vacuum and coating firm Univacco, home furnishings distributor Sheen World Technology Corp., and an undisclosed electronic key component manufacturer, an electronic components factory, and a high-precision metal components factory — are expected to invest close to NT$40 billion and create more than 4,000 new jobs, the MOEA said.

Among them, Univacco, which is marketed in over 60 countries, plans to expand its production scale in Taiwan with an initial investment of NT$800 million. That will create 35 domestic job opportunities, the MOEA said.    [FULL  STORY]

Eye-tracking technology and courses help the children acquire basic cognitive abilities, start self-learning and communicate with others

Taiwan News 
Date: 2019/05/08
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Sense Innovation has won the 2019 Asia Pacific Social Innovation Partnership Award (APSIPA) for providing the latest medical technologies and working with two charities to meet the communication and educational needs of children with disabilities, the award organizer said.

Sense Innovation, which has engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs with various enterprises since 2018, specializes in developing user friendly eye-tracking software interfaces for people with disabilities to operate.

The company offers customized services to users, with the objective of enabling them to communicate with others via the system, including typing in search items for the internet, and communicating via dialogue software. In addition, the system helps patients choose photos for improved communication with healthcare providers.

The company’s partner in the award-wining project, Fubon Cultural & Educational Foundation (FCEF), has focused on the provision of educational resources to the underprivileged for many years, Sense Innovation’s brand manager Evelyn Yang (楊雅筑) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/08
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, May 8 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL), one of Taiwan’s two major carriers, said Wednesday it will acquire a fleet of Airbus A321neo aircraft and Boeing 777 freighters for its passenger and cargo flights, respectively, in a bid to become more competitive amid rising fuel cost.

After assessing all the relevant aircraft features and considering the congestion at neighboring airports in Asia, CAL said, it has selected the Airbus A321neo as the optimum aircraft for its regional narrow-body flights.

Starting in 2021, the carrier said, it will deploy 14 leased A321neo aircraft on its long-haul and regional routes, which will allow better economics and operational efficiency.

The carrier said it will simultaneously place firm orders for 11 aircraft and options for five more.    [FULL  STORY]

USERS KNOW BEST: Although they are not Line’s biggest user base, Taiwanese understand its services, making Taiwan an ideal location to test new services, the firm said

Taipei Times
Date: May 09, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

Over next three years, Line Corp plans to invest NT$3 billion (US$97.02 million) in Taiwan, as it aims to expand into areas such as financial technology, e-commerce and digital content, co-CEO Jungho Shin told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

It would be another significant investment in Taiwan for the Tokyo-based firm after its subsidiary, Line Financial Corp, invested NT$4.82 billion in Line Financial Taiwan Corp (台灣連線金融科技) in March in a bid to launch the Web-only Line Bank in Taiwan.

Line Financial Taiwan holds a 49.9 percent stake in Line Bank, which would cost the firm NT$4.99 billion if the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) grants it the license later this year.

“The Taiwanese market is a great investment environment, as people embrace new technologies and there are many talented people who can help us develop digital innovations,” Shin said.    [FULL  STORY]

The Asia Pacific Social Innovation Partnership Award was set up to encourage social innovation and encourage sustainable development

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/07
By:: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Micro PC was founded by two college students at Chung Yuan Christian University (中原大學) who developed a technology that cleans harmful substances from water, such as plastic microbeads in the ocean and algae in fish ponds.

They were awarded the 2019 Asia Pacific Social Innovation Partnership Award (APSIPA) for their innovative combination of technology and use of autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) to clean microbeads.

The award was set up to encourage social innovation and engage in partnerships that positively influence society and help realize the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to the award organizer. The competition is open to enterprises, NGOs, schools, and government agencies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Microbeads are tiny plastic particles whose diameter is less than 5 mm. Being so small, they can drift freely in the ocean and combine with other harmful substances, enter the human food chain, and affect our health. There are nearly 800,000 tons of microbeads floating in the ocean, according to Micro PC.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/07
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang

Taipei, May 7 (CNA) Consumer prices rose 0.66 percent from a year earlier in April on the back of an increase in the price of vegetables, eggs, fuel and travel expenses, government statistics showed Tuesday.

However, a decline in the price of fruit, garments and 3C products as well as communications expenses capped the increase in the consumer price index for April, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said.

On a month-on-month basis, the DGBAS said the consumer price index (CPI) for April rose 0.75 percent. After seasonal adjustments it was up 0.15 percent.

The year-on-year CPI growth for April was higher than the 0.56 percent increase in March and the highest for the year so far, the DGBAS data showed.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2019/05/06
By:  Central News Agency

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), who is making a bid for president of Taiwan, will step back from the daily operations of the company, eventually allowing CFO Huang Chiu-lien (黃秋蓮) to take over as chairperson, a source in the company told CNA Monday.

During a visit to the United States last week, a few days after throwing his hat into the ring, Gou said he planned to resign as chairman of Hon Hai, which is also known as Foxconn Technology Group.

Gou, 68, will soon be handing over the reins of the company’s day-to-day operations to other executives so that he can focus on his presidential bid, according to a Hon Hai source, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.

While he will step down as Hon Hai chairman, a position he has held for 45 years, Gou will assume the post of company president so he can supervise its transformation efforts and integration of its global resources, according to the source.    [FULL  STORY]