High prices, a dysfunctional rental market, and limited public housing make it difficult for many citizens to find a suitable place to live. Liu Wei-ting has a graduate degree in urban planning and is six years into a career as a manager of an engineering consulting firm, but he says he has little hope of…
A massive social housing program is viewed as the means for the Taipei municipal to build an integrated smart city. The development of smart housing– utilizing Taiwan’s strengths in the ICT (information and communications technology) sector – is central to the Taipei City government’s blueprint for the future. The plan also matches the national government’s…
In August, Taiwan’s Directorate General of Budget, Accounting & Statistics revised its GDP growth forecast for 2018 upward to 2.69% due mainly to increasing private investment. Government investment is also expected to increase this year by 5.06%, with the authorities aiming to spend NT$420 billion (about US$13.8 billion) on infrastructure over the next four years…
Some major new projects are in the works for Taipei’s Xinyi district. When the Breeze Center opens its latest outlet in the new 48-story Nan Shan Plaza later this year in downtown Taipei’s Xinyi Planning District, it will be the 14th department store or shopping mall within an area of half a square kilometer –…
Entrepreneurs in Taiwan are redefining the term ‘café’ in the era of social media. With the proliferation of cafés in Taiwan in recent years, proprietors have been looking for ways to make their shops stand out from the rest. Besides offering single-origin coffee, more and more cafés are dedicating space to displaying premium, handcrafted goods…
Some of the multinational company’s busiest stores in the world are located in Taiwan. Among the 759 Costco stores in the United States and 10 other countries and regions, the operation in central Taiwan’s Taichung ranks at the very top in the number of members and is second in the world in sales volume (the…
Taiwan’s chains are focusing on providing hyperlocal services in smaller spaces. Taiwan’s supermarkets in recent years have been morphing into a hybrid type all its own in response to the growing trend for consumers to prioritize convenience and service over huge product selection. In the past, Taiwanese consumers might patronize a department store once a…
Fresh baked goods and theme-based stores are also drawing customers. In order to better serve as one-stop supply stations for local people in their daily life, Taiwan’s convenience stores are expanding their floor space, adopting more sophisticated technology, taking on more functions, and seeking to make their store layouts more attractive. 7-Eleven, the largest convenience…
The Smart Machinery portion of the 5+2 Innovative Industries plan is an upgraded and expanded version of the Industry 4.0 initiative started under the Ma Ying-jeou administration. It has already seen some success in promoting Taiwan’s machinery sector, which achieved an output value of NT$1.1 trillion (US$36.7 billion) last year and is expected to pass…
Transforming Taiwan into a regional biomedical hub will require some creativity. Taiwan’s biomedicine industry has many of the ingredients for success. The island has strong scientific talent, rich clinical-trial experience, abundant capital, a treasure trove of medical data (from the National Health Insurance system), information-technology expertise, and strong intellectual property rights protection bolstered by the…
