Following future innovation trends in economic development, the National Development Council (NDC), Ministry of Economic Affairs, National Science and Technology Council, and Ministry of Transportation and Communications have jointly implemented the "Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan" (referred to as ASVDP 1.0) in 2016 which focused on two pillars: "Promoting the innovative research and development for IoT" and "building a comprehensive ecosystem for innovative startups," and has produced plentiful and concrete achievements.
With the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G, the scope of IoT applications has significantly broadened, facilitating the development of various innovative services. Based on the performance of the ASVDP 1.0 over the past few years, the NDC initiated cross-ministries coordination to jointly formulate "Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan 2.0" (referred to as ASVDP 2.0), approved by the Executive Yuan in August 2021.
With concerted efforts, the output value of the IoT industry in Taiwan surpassed NT$2 trillion in 2022, leading the information and communication technology industry to gradually shift from hardware manufacturing toward system application services integrating software and hardware. Furthermore, the plan has also driven vigorous development within Taiwan's tech startup ecosystem, nurturing more than 7,400 domestic startups, including four Taiwanese unicorns, and significantly increased the amount of funding raised by startups from US$840 million in 2015 to US$2.22 billion in 2023.
In view of the recent challenges faced by the industry in digital and net-zero transformation, and the continuous advancement of technologies such as AI and the Internet of Things, the government has further proposed the Asia Silicon Valley 3.0 Development Plan (referred to as ASVDP 3.0) on the existing basis, which will focus on the development of 5G private networks and AI miniaturization technology. Through groundbreaking approaches, the government will also encourage private capital investment to achieve the goals of providing tax incentives to promote new venture capital raising and doubling startup investments and exits.
To promote Taiwan as a global innovation hub for strengthening resilient development. The ASVDP 3.0 will take "a model of innovative industry and smart and resilient society" as its vision and goal, accelerate the global digital and net-zero transformation, and work with international partners to develop together and spread the benefits of industrial innovation.
(1) Exporting Intelligent AIoT Solutions
Generative AI has become the most concerned topic worldwide in 2023, and related smart applications are rapidly penetrating various industries. This plan will build on past achievements in the development of smart IoT, deepen the integration with emerging AI applications, and link the localized energy of 5G to expand smart solutions to multiple fields. At the same time, it will strengthen docking with overseas market demand spread Taiwan's smart IoT solutions to the world, and build Taiwan into a trustworthy international partner.
(2) Doubling Startup Investments
Taiwan's economic growth has entered an innovation-driven stage. In the future, it will drive industrial innovation and transformation by expanding investment in startups. The government will strengthen efforts to encourage the financial and insurance industry, venture capital, enterprises, and other private sectors to invest in the startup ecosystem, optimize the overall startup environment, and establish hubs in key overseas markets to accelerate international cooperation and layout and assist startups to enter the global market.