Taoyuan City, the gateway to Taiwan, occupies a core strategic position in terms of industrial internationalization, transformational development, and logistics management, and links Taiwan to the global market via sea and air transport. The Taiwanese government’s “Taoyuan Aerotropolis Project” reappropriates usage of the 4,564-hectare area of land surrounding the Taoyuan International Airport through urban planning.
The plan is intended to help accommodate the surge in industry needs, enhance the airport’s competitiveness, promote Taoyuan’s overall development, and move forward Taiwan’s industrial transformation. The Aerotropolis, the Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program, and the Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan constitute the trifecta of Taoyuan’s development.
The Aerotropolis project aims to make Taoyuan Airport “intelligent,” establish a robust smart city, and introduce airport-related industries. Such efforts will give rise to good investment results and would harmonize the development of the airport and Taoyuan City, allowing the two to coexist, prosper, and grow together.
Taoyuan is adjacent to the Greater Taipei area, the political and economic center of Taiwan. Transportation is convenient, it is home to several industry clusters, and its supply chains are complete. Taoyuan is a young, vibrant emerging city in Taiwan, full of hope and excellent conditions. In addition to the airport, Taoyuan also neighbors the Far Glory Free Trade Zone, Taipei Harbor, Keelung Harbor, and other international commercial ports. It also boasts access to the Taiwan Railway, High Speed Rail, Airport MRT, and other options in Taiwan’s comprehensive transportation network, totally connecting domestic and international transportation systems.
Taoyuan also hosts large traditional and high-tech industries, diverse and complete industrial areas, and intense industrial cluster development and innovation. It is a tech-focused city with an annual production value of NT$2.932 trillion. In addition, Taoyuan’s National Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) as well as its 17 colleges and universities cultivate close to 25,000 young learners every year. Through the use of educational resources from the neighboring Taipei and Hsinchu areas and cooperation with government, academia, and industry, the city produces a steady flow of strong talent.
The Taoyuan Aerotropolis Project complements the existing industrial resources and combines the benefits of its superior industries to implement the plan. The project applies a low pollution, low energy consumption, low water usage, and high value-added (three low, one high) industrial approach, driving industrial development through airport economics and promoting the complementary advancement of the airport and the city to push forward Taiwan’s economic development.
Since the project began, the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Co. Ltd. has actively organized various investment attraction activities and through communication with the business community, has helped companies better understand the project. Through its investment attraction strategy and marketing efforts, the company has achieved a breakthrough in this area. As of the end of 2020, the Aerotropolis had signed memorandums of understanding with 41 domestic and international firms and academic organizations. These MOUs introduce to the project the six major emerging and intelligent industries of AI/big data/cloud computing, autonomous vehicles, international logistics, biomedical technology, aviation subsidies, and green energy, fully putting “airport economics” into practice.
Given the location of the Executive Yuan’s Asia Silicon Development project in Taoyuan, a spot in the Aerotropolis next to the Taoyuan Sports Park station (A19) on the Airport MRT was selected to launch the Asia Silicon Valley Innovation and Research Center as a way to increase the importance of Taoyuan City’s industrial R&D and advancement.
The center will combine smart IoT and innovative R&D, and will have as the core of its development innovation and sharing, enterprise benchmarking, research and development, smart architecture, and convenient service. In addition, it will include six smart systems (smart office, smart environment, smart life, smart energy conservation, smart data, and smart maintenance and operation). These systems will complement the customized service provided by Taoyuan City Government’s single-point-of-contact service window, offering an excellent investment environment that will transform it into a model venue for smart applications.
To improve promotion of the Asia Silicon Valley Research and Development Center, the project will integrate domestic 5G, IoT, and other high-tech innovative capabilities. Meanwhile, a smart operations management platform will be used to attract international companies and innovative industries to establish a presence in the center. Furthermore, close cooperation between major multinational and domestic firms will be facilitated through the center’s clustering effect.
