Too much emphasis has been placed on the Executive Yuan’s promise to foster Taiwanese unicorns.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/04/04
By: David Green
The National Development Council (NDC) is charged with implementing policies
Credit: ASVDA
formulated by Taiwan’s Executive Yuan, or Cabinet. With the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) now well into its first term, The News Lens sat down with NDC Vice-Minister and Asia Silicon Valley Development Agency (ASVDA) co-chief executive officer Dr. Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮) to talk about how the government’s aims to transform Taiwan’s economy are progressing,
The News Lens: Under a recently announced action plan, The Executive Yuan has promised to help incubate Taiwan’s first unicorn business (a startup valued at over US$1 billion) within two years and foster a total of three in the next six years – who is responsible for achieving this goal?
Chiou Jiunn-rong: We’re concerned that too much emphasis has been placed on the idea of fostering unicorns, but they are important to provide other companies with an example to aspire to. But we can’t focus all our resources on that. Various ministries need to work on fostering a healthy ecosystem. The ASVDA will work in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA), the Ministry of Science and Technology and other departments to ensure that there is sufficient early funding, and that talent is developed and regulations are adapted, so that the government can partner startups across multiple channels and help them advance in the international market. It’s not the responsibility of one ministry or government department. [FULL Q&A]
