The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) held the "Innovative Business Venture" conference in the afternoon of the 6th at FutureWard, Taipei City, during which MOEA Vice Minister Shen Jong-Chin led a team of subordinates including the Director-General of SMEA, Yeh Yun-Lung, to join representatives from the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and National Development Council in a face-to-face discussion with young entrepreneurs to talk about the challenges and needs they face when starting new businesses. The conference was intended as a means to eliminate obstacles for entrepreneurial environment and inject innovation into new ventures.
Representatives from ten new startups were invited to participate in the conference; they represented professions of the highest potential from social enterprise, consultative service, information, software, to technology, and each of them has been dedicated to innovation and excellence. The ten businesses were: Fang Zhou Technology, WeSchool, Thunder Sensing, Greenvines, LBSTEK, AirSig, iHealth, My Happy Farm, NX Internet Technology, and Backer-Founder. During the conference, start-ups representatives shared their suggestions on the challenges associated with business venture and what improvements can be made. The discussion was mainly focused on establishing unified service contact, simplified procedures, foreign investment incentives, business-friendly environment, appropriate regulations, distribution channels, financing solutions, subsidies, minimum wages, talent supply, and industry-academia collaborations. In addition to responding queries, government representatives had also kept detailed records of the topics discussed to serve as reference in future policy making.
Participants were later invited to a tour in FutureWard, the largest makerspace in Asia, where it offers a comprehensive range of tools including 3D printers, CNC, laser cutters, bed mills, lathes, and bandsaws that new businesses can make use of to make their dreams come true at lower costs. This setup has become the new trend of business ventures throughout Taiwan. It was also the MOEA's intent to take this tour as an opportunity to observe up close how new businesses work in order to formulate more effective policies and services.
Vice Minister Shen Jong-Chin also pointed out during the conference that innovative business ventures are becoming an increasingly important factor in national competitiveness. According to the 2014 White Paper on SMEs, 99,044 new startups were created by the end of 2013; meanwhile, the 2015 "Global Entrepreneurship & Development Index" (GEDI) published in the U.S. ranked Taiwan 8th among 130 countries worldwide, and number one in Asia, ahead of other competitive nations such as Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China. This result shows how energetic the Taiwanese people are at starting new businesses and putting new ideas to work, which may become a new force for kick-starting the increasingly sluggish global economy. In the future, the MOEA will actively consolidate resources across its various departments to help better prepare young people for the task of starting up and maintaining new businesses to solidify Taiwan's position as the "The Silicon Valley of the Asia Pacific: Where new ideas and new businesses thrive."