Taiwan’s startup ecosystem has made significant progress in recent years thanks to the efforts of both the government and the private sector. According to a survey1 by PwC Taiwan and the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, Taiwan’s startup ecosystem has always been highly competitive in terms of infrastructure, talent, and policy support. The survey also found that an increasing number of medium and large-sized enterprises are seeking to collaborate with startups, making them the best partners for “external innovation” by leveraging their R&D capabilities. The survey also found that incubators play an important role in the growth of startups. At any stage of development, startups can find corresponding incubators for services and appropriate counseling resources to help them grow.

Taiwan’s startup ecosystem has many advantages. According to the GEM 2022/2023 Global Report2, Taiwan ranks third globally in overall entrepreneurial environment, especially in infrastructure, talent, and policy support. The outstanding performance of Taiwan’s government policies, infrastructure, and business and professional services also provides a good development environment for entrepreneurs.

Taiwan’s startup ecosystem provides many opportunities. The Taiwanese government has been committed to supporting startups and has provided many policies and resources to promote entrepreneurial development. In addition, Taiwan has a strong technology industry, a manufacturing industry with cost advantages, and high-quality talent, which provides a good development environment for startups.

The Taiwanese government has actively formulated various measures or bills to encourage entrepreneurship, making entrepreneurial spirit and activities an important key to driving economic growth1. The Taiwanese government has many support measures for startups. For example, the government has proposed industry innovation plans such as “smart machinery,” “Asia Silicon Valley,” “green energy technology,” “biomedical industry,” “defense industry,” “new agriculture,” and “circular economy” as the core driving force for Taiwan’s next-generation industrial growth, inputting new momentum into economic growth3. In addition, the government also provides various subsidies and resources, including innovation and research and development subsidies, the establishment of the Linkou Startup Park, connecting domestic and foreign accelerator incubators, providing one-stop services, establishing new startup products to enter the government market, and providing trial opportunities. Recently, Taiwanese startups have gradually emerged in the health technology and energy fields, and their future development is worth looking forward to.

Taiwan and Japan have a close cooperative relationship in innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in emerging issues such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and ESG, where there are extensive opportunities for exchange and cooperation. Through collaboration with Taiwanese startups, Japanese companies can gain more innovative ideas and technologies and maintain their competitiveness in the global or domestic market. Taiwanese startups usually have innovation capabilities and flexibility, enabling them to quickly adapt to market changes and provide innovative solutions. In addition, Taiwan and Japan are geographically close and culturally similar, which helps promote cooperation between the two sides.

For example, NextDrive, a Taiwanese startup that participated in the 2015 AEA competition, is dedicated to providing energy IoT solutions and has achieved great success in the Japanese market. In 2022, NextDrive teamed up with ENERES, a Japanese new power service company, to participate in Japan’s largest distributed energy management demonstration project. In 2023, NextDrive won the “Chairman’s Award” of the 2022 Japan New Energy Award with the “IoE Energy IoT Platform” and “Ecogenie+ Home Energy Management Solution”. NextDrive successfully leveraged Taiwan’s strong technology industry and talent advantages to provide excellent energy management solutions to Japanese power companies.

Taiwan and Japan have recently had frequent interactions and good public sentiment, which has inspired the two countries to embark on a new era of cooperation. In 2022, the “Together, Go Big Japan-Taiwan Startup Summit” was held, with 33 Taiwanese startups going to Japan to exchange with Japanese investors, companies, and startup communities, while also creating many opportunities for cooperation. Examples are as follows.

Taiwanese startup FunNow has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Matsumura Consulting Inc. (MCI) in Japan. Through FunNow’s products and MCI’s resources in Japan, they aim to support the opportunities in the Japanese tourism market after the pandemic and become the most convenient dining reservation platform for tourists visiting Japan.

Taiwanese biotech and pharmaceutical startup Health2Sync has entered into a strategic partnership with Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical company and the world’s second-largest insulin manufacturer, in Japan. Through digital insulin dose adjustment software, they are helping 290,000 Japanese users more easily manage diabetes. The two companies first collaborated in Taiwan in 2020 and further developed an algorithm that automatically adjusts and records insulin doses and times by the end of 2021. In addition, Health2Sync has partnered with Fitbit, a smart wearable device owned by Google. Fitbit and Health2Sync will integrate and analyze personal health, sleep, and exercise data to help Health2Sync’s Japanese and Taiwanese users more effectively manage chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Taiwanese startup Kdan Mobile has partnered with Kabob Technology Japan to promote its digital products, the PDF Reader, and electronic signature service DottedSign in Japan. The partnership aims to help more Japanese companies move towards digital transformation and promote paperless operations to improve work efficiency.

Turn Cloud Technology, a Taiwanese digital service solution startup has signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with VINX, subsidiaries of Fujisoft, and Hitachi Solutions to jointly develop the Japanese and Southeast Asian markets. Tengyun will work with the two trading companies to introduce its digital transformation solutions and technologies to chain retailers, mass merchandisers, and shopping centers in Japan and Southeast Asia. At the same time, through cooperation in technology and solutions, the construction and development of OMO digital marketing programs will be introduced into large commercial facilities in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Taiwan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is thriving and providing many opportunities for startups. The cooperative relationship between Taiwan and Japan will bring new development opportunities for startups and large enterprises in both countries. Companies from both countries can work together to develop new products and services, jointly explore new markets, discover more business opportunities, and create win-win situations.

Reference:
(1) 2021 Taiwan Startup Ecosystem Survey. PwC Taiwan.
https://www.pwc.tw/zh/publications/topic-report/2021-taiwan-startup-ecosystem-survey.html.(In Chinese)
(2) GEM 2022/2023 Global Report. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.
https://gemconsortium.org/report/20222023-global-entrepreneurship-monitor-global-report-adapting-to-a-new-normal-2.
(3) 5+2 Industrial Innovation Plan. National Development Council, Taiwan.
https://www.ndc.gov.tw/Content_List.aspx?n=9D024A4424DC36B9&upn=6E972F5C30BF198F. (In Chinese)
(4) Business Next,
https://www.bnext.com.tw/article/70429/together-go-big-japan. (In Chinese)

Author：Dr. Don Jyh-Fu JENG
Professor, Graduate Institute of Technology, Innovation and Intellectual Property Management
Chief Operating Officer, Center for Industry Collaboration and Innovation Incubation
Director, EMBA Program
National Chengchi University, Taiwan.
Dr. Don Jyh-Fu Jeng is a Professor of the Graduate Institute of Technology, Innovation and Intellectual Property Management, the Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Industry Collaboration and Innovation Incubation, and the EMBA director at the National Chengchi University, Taiwan. Dr. Jeng received his Ph.D. from Waseda University (Japan), an M.S. and a B.S. from University of Houston (U.S.) Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr. Jeng worked as a system analyst for Texas Instruments, and as an e-commerce manager for Ateck Computer, Inc. (U.S.) In addition, Dr. Jeng has co-founded the Gtogo.com (U.S.), which its business model has later proved successful. Dr. Jeng has provided consulting services to many organizations. In addition, he has served as a mentor to startups and devote himself to support young entrepreneurs.
Dr. Jeng teaches the Technology and Innovation Management, Strategic Project and Operations Management, and Entrepreneurship and New Business Development in the M.S., MBA, EMBA and DBA programs. His major research interests focus on the cross-disciplinary of entrepreneurship studies, strategic operations management and decision-making. Dr. Jeng’s research work has been published in books and various academic journals.