Taiwan is making great strides in developing its biotech sector, but reaching the NT$ trillion mark in annual production value by 2025 won’t be easy. When the Biotech Innovation Organization (BIO), the world’s leading industry association for biotechnology, chose to hold its annual regional conference this summer in Taipei, it was a big boost for…
Drive through the countryside in the central Taiwan counties of Yunlin, Changhua, and Chiayi and you’re bound to notice the many barns and chicken coops with substantial solar arrays installed on their roofs. Development of solar power is a major part of Taiwan’s plan to transform its energy sector, eliminating nuclear power generation and bringing…
Amid progress on major projects, the sale of shares by pioneering local offshore wind-power developer Swancor underscores the challenges facing Taiwanese companies. With the scheduled completion next month of the installation of twenty 6-megawatt (MW) turbines off the coast of Miaoli County, Taiwan’s offshore wind-power development program enters a new stage. When the 90-meter-tall masts…
The combination of political and physical obstacles will almost certainly forestall any extension of Taiwan’s nuclear power sector. Last November, Taiwan seemed to do an about-face on the issue of nuclear power. Although Tsai Ing-wen of the anti-nuclear Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had been elected president in 2016, voters approved a referendum negating the amendment…
There’s more to buoyant two-way FDI flows than generous taxation policies. Back in the 1600s, the Dutch were Taiwan’s first foreign investors, with their legendary Dutch East Indian Company setting up Fort Zeelandia in what is now the Anping district of Tainan. Fast-forwarding to the present, the Netherlands for the past three years has been…
Amended transportation regulations could cripple the ride-hailing giant’s Taiwan business, sending a worrying message about the investment climate. Uber has struggled in East Asia. The San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant burned through billions of dollars battling China’s Didi Chuxing before bowing out of the Chinese market in 2016. It never gained a foothold in Japan or…
The home-sharing company’s business has grown steadily while it has largely dodged penalties for hosting unlicensed properties on its platform. For years, Airbnb and Taiwanese regulators have been playing a cat-and-mouse game. Local regulations limit short-stay accommodation rentals to licensed hotels or inns, but most Taiwan properties listed on the home-sharing platform do not meet…
Tech firms are repatriating from tariff-hit China, boosting the local economy. But can Taiwan secure a long-term position in global supply chains? For years, it was a foregone conclusion that Taiwan’s tech hardware sector would concentrate production in China. Starting in the 1990s, local contract electronics manufacturers began moving capacity across the Taiwan Strait. They…
Several of the candidates for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president are advocating a government-run plan to provide health-insurance coverage to all Americans, sometimes referred to “Medicare for All.” As a single-payer healthcare system, this type of plan is similar to Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI). Could the Taiwan experience serve as a practical reference…
It’s high on every expat’s nightmare list – needing emergency medical care in a country where you’re an outsider and don’t speak the language beyond telling a cab driver where to turn. I was home alone, my wife and children off visiting family in the UK, when I was struck with a sudden, searing pain…
